Just Married
by Isabel5
Summary: Chlollie. Something horrible has happened but Chloe can't remember. If she doesn't piece it all together in time it might be too late for Oliver.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: I know it's about a fourth the usual length of my chapters but this is just a slight teaser to get you excited about the story. Hope you enjoy.

***************

"Get up!"

The voice was insistent, panicked, and screaming in her head. Her eyes shot open at once obeying and she looked frantically for the owner. But there was no one there, no one but her. She realized it must have been her own voice, her own mind yelling at her to get up, to keep moving, to keep going. She was on the ground. Had she fallen? Passed out? She didn't know, she didn't remember. She'd been walking for so long and she was so tired, maybe she'd simply laid down and gone to sleep.

Gravel and bits of broken glass dug into her palms as she tried and failed to push herself up. Her left wrist didn't want to cooperate, falling limp and lifeless at her side so she readjusted to push herself up with her right arm. She vaguely remembered that she'd hurt her wrist but she couldn't remember how.

She knew that it should hurt, that there was so much that should hurt but it didn't, not anymore. The pain was gone now, that probably wasn't a good thing. Someone told her once that as long as you could feel pain, you knew you were still alive. But she felt alive, or she thought she felt alive, she wasn't sure what alive was anymore. Maybe she never was alive; maybe this whole trip was pointless. Maybe she was currently stuck in some weird sort of purgatory. The laugh that escaped her was sharp and angry and her own voice sounded so foreign that it scared her slightly.

Dead or not, she had to keep moving, keep going. She had to get help. She frowned. Why did she need to get help? When she tried to think about it, it made her head hurt. There was a loud noise, it hurt her ears, why was it so loud? Pain, she remembered pain. Voices and shadows and a strange wailing cry. Was that her? Was that her cry? Why couldn't she remember? It didn't matter, nothing mattered, she had to keep moving.

Her steps faltered when she saw the first building, a sign of life, a signal to her that there would be people, people who could help her, help her remember. She stumbled in a daze down the street, garnering many furtive glances and more than her fair share of lingering stares. She didn't see any of them. She didn't hear the gasps as she passed. She didn't see the mothers pulling their children away. She didn't hear the horns honking as she cut across the street when she'd seen the sign; Police Station. Because she could remember one other thing, it was repeating over and over in her head like a mantra. "In case of an emergency; contact the police."

******************

Deputy Carl Wise was ready for his fourth handful of aspirin and it was only eight in the morning. He'd been at this job, at this desk for over forty years now. He joined the force straight out of high school. He'd had dreams of spending a few years on the beat before eventually making it up to Detective. That never happened. Instead five years into the job he was still on the beat. Until one day, in pursuit of a guy who'd grabbed twenty three dollars and seventeen cents out of a convenience store register, he'd hoped a fence, landed wrong and slipped a disc in his back. He was put on desk duty and never got off. "Ms. Wilburn, I don't care if your neighbor checks his mail in a Superman costume, it's not against the law."

"But it's vulgar." The woman said then leaned forward as if she was about to tell him a state secret. "His underwear is on the outside of his pants." She whispered horrified.

"At least he's wearing underwear." Carl's joke fell on deaf ears as Ms. Wilburn glared at him in annoyance. He knew she wouldn't go for it. She was the picture perfect quintessential old lady. She came in with tightly curled silver almost blue hair. She was four foot nine if she was anything and she was clutching her handbag tightly to her chest. He imagined her to be the lady who carried a box of coupons to the grocery store and argued over fifteen cents off of dented canned goods. He never should have joked about underwear.

"I'd love to help you, I really would.' He smiled at her, trying to get back on her good side. Maybe it was the fact that if his own grandmother were still alive she'd be giving him that perfect old lady disappointed head shake and he couldn't bear it. "There's nothing I can do though. Now if your neighbor actually was Superman that would be a whole other story." Carl frowned as the doorbell rang signifying that someone had walked in. He was hoping to take a short smoke break after Ms. Wilburn left. When he looked up however, he froze.

"I can't believe this. I'm going to write to my local councilman you know." Ms. Wilburn said.

Carl ignored her and walked out from behind the desk but he wasn't sure where to go from there so he stopped and stared.

"Wise." Officer Learner walked up. "You didn't sign the booking slip from earlier." He passed a paper to Carl who didn't even bother too look. "Carl." Learner looked up and saw Carl staring at the door. Learner slowly turned and followed his gaze. "Holy crap." He whispered and let the paper fall to the ground.

"I need…." The woman standing in the doorway looked around confused. She seemed surprised to be in there and unsure what she was supposed to do next. "I think I need…"

"Ma'am." Carl walked up to her slowly. "Ma'am, do you need help?"

"Yes." She turned to him, her voice firm but her expression still unsure. "I need help."

"What happened?" Carl grabbed her arm lightly in an attempt to reassure her.

"Happened?" She furrowed her brow. "Did something happen? Yes, something happened." She said tears springing to her eyes. "Something happened and I think I need help."

"Ok." Carl smiled softly at her. That's what they told you to do in sensitivity training when dealing with people who were mentally unstable or those that were in shock. He didn't have enough information about her mental stability yet but it was obvious to anyone that looked at her that she was in severe shock.

He led her over to sit in one of the waiting room chairs. People scattered out of their way. "What happened? Why do you need help?" He asked and when she continued to just stare at him blankly he tried a different tactic. "Let's try something easy ok? What's your name?"

"My name is…" She choked the sentence off and tried again. "My name is…" Her lower lip started to tremble and the water in her easy spilled over the side. "I don't know." The tears fell freely now. "I don't know." She looked up at Sergeant Carl Wise and the look on her face was so helpless, so full of fear and confusion that his heart broke for her.

"I do." A woman who'd been sitting on the other side of the waiting room, watching with interest, stood up and walked over. "Sorry, excuse me I don't mean to pry but I know her." She pulled something out of her bag. "I mean I don't know her, but…" She handed over a magazine; it was one of those annoying Celebrity gossip rags that Carl always saw littering the checkout isles at the supermarket. "Her name is Chloe Sullivan. Well I guess now its Chloe Queen, she got married yesterday." The woman smiled sadly at Chloe and then walked back to her seat.

Chloe looked at Carl confused, almost as if the words the woman had just spoken were not English but some foreign language and she was looking to him to translate. They both turned their attention to the cover of the magazine and Carl felt his stomach lurch again. The woman on the cover, the one who was smiling, laughing even, relishing in the joy of the moment was the same poor woman beside him in the chair. "I..." Chloe whispered, grabbing the paper from him and running a finger softly over the cover, as if by touching it would help her remember. She closed her eyes and sighed.

******************

"_Are you ready Ms. Queen?" Oliver asked offering up his arm. The ceremony was over; the hard part as far as he was concerned. Now they just got to party. _

"_Do you think I'll ever stop looking behind me for someone else when you say that?" Chloe slid her arm through his, wondering if the smile was going to freeze on her face permanently but being too happy to care. _

"_Well it's only been about five minutes; it's still new to you. If you're still doing it in fifty years, then we'll have a problem." Oliver assured her. _

"_Fifty years huh?" Chloe asked looking up at him admiringly. _

"_Yeah, fifty years, eighty years. I'm in this thing for the long haul." Oliver kissed her. "You getting scared yet Sidekick?" _

"_I'm too happy to be scared today." Chloe laughed. "I'll worry about the future tomorrow. Right now I want some cake, I've been dreaming about that cake for six weeks." _

"_You know to get to the cake we've got to face the masses." Oliver warned her. _

_Chloe actually seemed to mentally debate this for a minute. She felt as if the two of them were in a sort of bubble, that the rest of the world had been shut out and it was just Chloe and Oliver. As soon as they opened those doors, the moment would pass, the spell would be broken, and the real world would come crashing back in a cacophony of camera flashes and people cheering. On the other hand, the cake was really good. "For the cake." Chloe turned to the doors. _

"_For the cake." Oliver nodded pushing the doors to the church open. They were instantly bombarded by paparazzi camera flashes. Handfuls of rose petals were thrown in the air and Chloe wasn't expecting them. The sudden beauty of those petals falling down in front of her made a perfect day even better and Chloe laughed as Oliver pulled her down the steps and toward the waiting limo. _

_**************_

And that was the picture on the cover of the magazine. There was a smiling, rosy cheeked bride, an anxious but deliriously happy groom. Rose petals rained down on the both of them, hanging motionless in mid air, as they ran down the steps of the Cathedral. It was a perfect snapshot of her perfect day, frozen forever for all the world to see.

Chloe stood up suddenly, her breath coming faster and faster and she was helpless to catch it. She looked up and caught sight of herself reflected in a window. The tight precise curls that had been in her hair the day before were limp and lifeless, falling out of the bobby pins in random places. Her makeup smeared, mascara running down her face and into the tiny small cuts that now littered her once blemish free cheeks.

She couldn't take her eyes away from the dress though. She was still in her wedding dress, the dress it took her six months to pick out, the dress that had to be custom made in Italy. There were tears in seams, a ring of mud along the bottom, but the blood, that was the kicker. There was blood splattered across the bodice and the skirt like a demented Jackson Pollock and she couldn't remember where it had come from, she didn't even now whose it was. A sudden shooting pain in her leg reminded her that the large blood spot on her left thigh was at least her blood but from what injury, she didn't know.

"I got married yesterday." Chloe said softly. She looked down at her left hand and saw that in addition to the engagement ring on her forth finger, there was now a wedding band. Both rings were covered in caked on, dried red blood.

Carl stood up and placed a hand on her arm. "Ms. Queen, where is your husband?"

Chloe turned to him slowly as a look of pure, unadulterated fear enveloped her and her bottom lip started to tremble again. Suddenly it was as if she'd completed some mission. The only thought that had been in her head was to get to the police station and she'd accomplished that. So now, as the adrenaline wore off and the blood loss seemed to catch up to her she looked over at Carl Wise and shook her head. "I don't know." She said before collapsing to the floor.


	2. Chapter 2

"Get out of my way." Lois screamed. "Where is she? Where is my cousin, I want to see my cousin." The two uniformed officers in front of her didn't respond.

"Ma'am, I don't know who your cousin is but you have to wait in line." The officer at the desk said.

"Bull shit." Lois glared at him. "If you won't tell me where she is, I'll find her myself." Lois studied the stances of the officers blocking her way, faked left, then jumped the desk and ran behind the counter.

"You can't go back there." The desk officer screamed. "Hey, someone get this woman out of here."

Lois realized that maybe she really hadn't thought this through. She was suddenly surrounded by policemen. "Ok, this was obviously the wrong way to go." Lois smiled in an attempt to disarm them.

"Obviously." One the cops said, his hand resting on the butt of his service weapon as a warning.

"You know , if we were in Metropolis this wouldn't even be a problem." Lois tried to tell them, slowing raising her hands in the air.

"We're not in Metropolis lady." One of the cops said pulling the cuffs out of his holder and walking toward her.

"No kidding." Lois scoffed at him.

"Ms. Lane?" Wise asked from a door in the back of the room. He'd been getting coffee when he heard one of the officers say "Metropolis". He remembered that Chloe's cousin was from Metropolis.

"Yes?" Lois asked hopefully as one of the officers slapped cuffs on her wrists.

"It's ok, let her go." Wise nodded at the cuffs.

"You sure?" The cop asked Wise.

"Her cousin's 'The Bride'." He said as if it explained everything.

"Oh." The officer unlocked the cuffs and offered Lois a sad smile. "I'm sorry." He nodded and walked away. Lois looked around confused as all the other cops, who had just a minute ago been ready to pull their guns on her, were now offering her apologetic frowns.

Lois turned Wise. "He's sorry?" She asked frowning. "What does that mean?"

"I'm Sergeant Carl Wise, I spoke to you on the phone." He held out his hand but Lois ignored it.

"Where's my cousin? Did something happen to her? No one told me anything. I was…I was at the airport, getting ready to go back to Metropolis when you called me. You said it was an emergency but you didn't say if she…"

"She's alive." Wise quickly assured Lois.

"But something did happen? I mean of course something happened, you wouldn't have called if nothing happened." Lois asked. Wise grabbed her arm and pulled her down the hall. "You called her 'The Bride'. What does that mean?"

"We're not exactly sure what's going on." Wise offered truthfully and opened a door. He motioned Lois inside and closed the door behind them. The first thing she saw was a large window that led into another room and she recognized it instantly as the back side of a two-way mirror. It was what was on the other side of that two-way mirror that had Lois staring. Her breath caught in her throat and she slowly raised a hand to the glass, unable to fully take in the image in front of her.

Her cousin was sitting in the other room. No, Lois took that back, a woman who looked like her cousin was sitting in the other room. The thing that made Chloe Chloe, that special spark of life that she'd always had was gone now, replaced by an empty shell of a person.

Her wedding dress was in tatters, splattered with blood, torn and dirty. Her face was tear streaked, her empty eyes red and puffy from crying. Her hair was a mess, caked in dirt and blood creating tangles where there had once been curls. Her left wrist was bandaged and the fingers of her right hand were absentmindedly twirling the brand new wedding ring on her left and she stared straight ahead, unseeing, uncaring.

"Why does she look like that?" Lois asked in horror.

"She wouldn't let us…didn't let us clean her up. She passed out shortly after she got here. Blood loss from a wound in her leg. The paramedic's patched it as best as they could but she wouldn't let them take off the dress. She wouldn't even let them cut it. Her wrist is probably fractured but she refused to go to the hospital so they wrapped it as best as they could and hoped for the best."

A woman with short brown hair, a pair of square rimmed glasses carrying a large bag walked into the room. She pulled the metal chair opposite Chloe away from the table, the legs scrapped against the concrete floor. The unexpected noise coming through the speakers caused Lois to jump in surprise, but Chloe did not move, didn't flinch.

"That's not my cousin." Lois turned away suddenly, unable to look anymore.

"Ms. Lane." Wise said.

"That is not my cousin." Lois shook her head more insistently and ran from the room. Wise cursed and set his coffee cup on the table before running out after her. She didn't make it very far. She'd gone about two steps from the room before collapsing against the wall. She was crying and though Wise just met her ten minutes ago, he knew that he was glimpsing something rare. "What happened?" Lois whispered, her voice unsteady.

"Like I said, we don't know." He told her.

Lois sunk to the floor and wiped her tears away. "I don't understand. She should be in Morocco right now, she's not...she shouldn't be here, she shouldn't be like that." Lois shook her head and then a thought occurred to her and the breakfast that she'd barely managed to keep down when she saw Chloe threatened to reappear. She turned to Wise sharply and pulled herself to her feet. "Where's Oliver? Where's her husband?"

It didn't make any sense, if something had happened to Chloe, he would be here. He would be screaming and ordering people around, generally raising as much hell as he possibly could until someone fixed things, until he fixed things. The fact that he wasn't here, that Chloe looked half dead made Lois automatically fear the worst.

"We don't know." Carl admitted.

Lois let out her breath and her breakfast managed stayed where it was. "We don't know" was a better answer than "In the morgue".

"She doesn't remember anything; she didn't even remember her name when she came in." Wise shook his head. "Maybe you could watch the interview, help us fill in any blanks about her day yesterday?"

"Yeah ok." Lois nodded. She paused before going in the room again. She knew logically that Chloe couldn't see her, that the mirror was one way but she felt she had to be strong for her cousin. If she couldn't be strong, at least she could look strong. She ran her fingers through her hair and wiped the rest of her tears away.

"You ready?" Wise asked and Lois nodded.

******************

"Ms. Queen, do you mind if I record this?" Mia Stevens turned her head to hide her yawn. The room blurred and she pulled her glasses off to rub her eyes. She was exhausted. She'd just gotten in her car, ready to head home after getting off a double shift when the Chief called her back in. She was not the only trauma specialist in the department but she was the only woman currently on the roster.

Since no one had been able to get anything out of Ms. Queen since she regained consciousness, they had no way of knowing exactly what type of trauma she'd suffered. To be on the safe side the department wanted a woman to interview her. Mia was tempted to tell the Chief that she would gladly come in after she'd had about twelve hours sleep but when presented with the particulars of the case, she couldn't turn it down.

Mia put her glasses back on and realized that Chloe hadn't answered her yet. "Ms. Queen?"

"Where is Sergeant Wise?" Chloe asked.

"He had to step out for a moment." Mia opened her notebook. "Ms. Queen do you mind if I record this?"

Chloe shook her head, still not looking at Mia. Mia sighed and pushed a button on her tape recorder. "This is Lieutenant Mia Stevens, Chief Trauma Specialist for the SCPD, interviewing Chloe Queen. The Date is July 27, 2009, the time is 0900 hours. Ms. Queen, can you tell me what happened?"

"He said he was going to help me." Chloe said instead.

"Who?"

"Sergeant Wise." Chloe told her.

Mia frowned. She was beginning to suspect from Chloe's attachment to Sergeant Wise that her trauma was in no way sexual. Which meant that one of the others could have taken this case. But she was in here now, she'd formed a sort of bond with Chloe and if anything she was sure this case would at least give her enough material for a few papers on the after effects of trauma or even PTSD, that was a big one now a days. You never passed up a case that gave you the opportunity to get published. "He did help you. He called me in." Mia pulled off her glasses again. "I'm here to help you now. But to do that I need to know what happened to you. What happened yesterday?"

Chloe closed her eyes, her expression pained and she whimpered as she remembered.

_She was laughing. There had been music in the background and laughter, so much laughter. She was happy she thought, though she wasn't quite sure what happy meant anymore, but at one point she was sure that she'd been happy. Then the noise, the horrible loud wail and the pain. The pain was everywhere, exploding from her leg into her head. Light burst behind her eyes and it hurt to breathe. Then a voice, his voice. "Chloe!, Open your eyes, look at me." Oliver cried out, his voice frantic_ an_d…wrong somehow._

"No!" Chloe screamed suddenly startling Mia, Lois, and Wise.

"Ok." Mia said in her best soothing voice. "Ok, that's fine, that's fine." She reached out a hand to touch Chloe's but thought better of it and pulled back.

The door was flung open from the outside and two people stepped in the room. A man who Mia vaguely remembered passing in the halls or riding the elevator with and a woman who she'd seen many times at the gym, Sophia she thought her name was. "I'm sorry, can I help you?" Mia jumped up from her seat. "We're in the middle of something here."

"I know." The man smiled and Mia resisted the urge to shudder. Something about him screamed sleaze, like the feeling you got from a used car salesman. "We were wondering when you would be finished. We'd like to talk to Ms. Queen."

"I'll be finished when I'm finished." Mia's gaze narrowed. "Do you mind if I ask you what business you have with her?"

The man didn't say anything and suddenly certain things started to click in Mia's head, like why they were in an interrogation room. "Can I see you outside for a second?" Mia grabbed the man's elbow and pulled him through the door, Sophia following. "You think I don't know what's going on here?"

"I should hope so, they said you were smart." The man smirked at her.

"What's going on?" Lois and Wise emerged from the adjoining room.

"Have you even looked at her?" Mia asked. "Taken a good look at her? She doesn't even know where she is, she barely knows who she is. The mere thought of what happened to her almost sent her over the edge. You really want to stand there, look me in the eye, and tell me you think that she had something to do with this?"

"Wait." Lois stepped forward slowly. "Do you think…are you saying that he thinks she did something to Oliver?" Lois shook her head. "That's crazy. You can't think that, it's just crazy."

"Is it?" He turned to Lois and she instantly hated him from the top of his perfectly coiffed hair to the bottom of his Gucci shoes. "The woman did just marry a multibillion dollar fortune and the very next day her husband goes missing?"

"The woman has a name." Lois snapped. "It's Chloe, Chloe Queen. And she didn't marry a multibillion dollar fortune. She married the love of her life."

"That's what they all say." Sophia snorted.

"I'm sorry who the hell are you?" Lois asked.

They ignored Lois, instead focusing thier attention back on Mia "Is she ready to talk to me?"

"She's not even ready to talk to me." Mia put her hands on her hips and glared. "But Miss Lane posed a good question, who the hell are you?"

"Detective Love." He pulled out his badge. "This is my partner Detective Marino." Sophia held out her badge. "Is she talking at all?"

"Look ." Mia said making a note of his badge number. "This is my case, not yours. So I'm moving her to another room and I'm going to treat her as the victim that she so obviously is until I find reason to do otherwise. I suggest you do the same or I'm going to call the Chief and file a complaint. Also if at any point I feel like she need to talk to you, I'll make that call, understood?"

"Hey." Love just threw up his hands and took a step back. "I'm just trying to do my job."

"And I'm just trying to do mine." Mia said.

Detective Love walked away down the hall pulling out his cell phone and Lois stepped up. "Hey." She called out in anger and he turned around. "Just so you know, he was broke when she proposed to him."

"He wasn't when she married him." Love offered Lois a cheeky grin and the only thing that stopped her from smacking it off his face was the reassuring weight of Wise's hand on her arm.

"She proposed to him?" Mia turned to Lois.

"Yeah." Lois rubbed her forehead. "It was a spur of the moment thing. Is that important?"

"It could help." Mia nodded and walked into the small kitchenette down the hall. Lois and Wise followed her. "She doesn't want to talk about what happened yesterday. She can't even think about yesterday. Maybe if I can get her to talk about something else, it will help her open up." Lois nodded in understanding. "Sergeant, could you escort Ms. Queen to the notification room? She seems to have imprinted on you."

"Sure." Wise walked down the hall and Mia poured herself a cup of coffee.

"Do you think, would it be ok if I saw her?" Lois asked.

"Of course, having someone there familiar to her, someone she feels safe with might help her feel more comfortable, make her willing to open up." Mia smiled. "It's best to try and surround trauma victims with things they find relaxing."

"You want something Chloe finds relaxing?" Lois smiled slightly. "You better bring this." She nodded to the coffee pot and Mia chuckled.

****************

The notification room was small and cozy, it contained a couch, two overstuffed chairs and a coffee table. It was a much more relaxed setting that was normally used tell people that a loved one was deceased. Mia was hoping that she wouldn't have to break that particular news today. She just thought that Chloe would be more comfortable there, more open to talking in a place that was treating her like a victim and not a suspect.

Chloe was on the couch, Sergeant Wise next to her. His mere presence seemed to have the ability to release some of her tension and she nodded absentmindedly as he whispered words of comfort in her ear. "I brought you some coffee." Mia said sliding a paper cup across the coffee table to her then another to Wise as she took a seat in one of the overstuffed chairs opposite them. Lois took the chair next to her but Chloe hadn't made any indication that she even knew her cousin was in the room. Mia almost collapsed in relief as Chloe reached out and grabbed the cup of coffee. She didn't sip it, she just held it in her hands.

From what Lois said to Mia, Chloe drank a lot of coffee. The familiarity of holding the cup might even be enough to do her some good. "Chloe, I know you're not ready to talk to me about what happened yesterday." Her face contorted in pain. "That's ok." Mia rushed to assure her. "That's fine. I've got all the time in the world. Whenever you're ready, just let me know." Chloe said nothing. "Maybe we could talk about something else." Mia set her coffee cup down. "Lois tells me that you proposed to Oliver? You want to tell me about that?"

Still Chloe said nothing. "I remember when I proposed to my wife." Wise said suddenly. "I was a nervous wreck, I practiced my speech so many times that at one point it stopped making sense."

"I didn't practice it." Chloe said suddenly. She stared down into the coffee cup and watched the steam rise. "I didn't plan it, I didn't even know I was going to do it, I just…the moment seemed right."

"Tell me about it." Mia said softly.

"I just wanted to cheer him up." Chloe looked up at Mia for the first time. "He'd been so depressed. I just wanted to make it all better."

**Two Years Ago**

Chloe glanced at the clock above the mantle and sighed. As she stared around the tiny apartment at the boxes that were stacked up still unpacked she knew that she wanted nothing more than to spend the evening at home. She thought that maybe if she could get everything unpacked, if she could make this place look more like a home then maybe he wouldn't be so miserable.

Going from the Penthouse apartment of Queen Towers to a tiny one bedroom loft conversion in what could affectionately be called the slums was likely not part of Oliver's plan. Chloe knew that it wasn't a part of hers but she was trying her hardest to make the best of a bad situation. Truth be told she hadn't really processed everything yet, it had all happened so fast.

In the span of a month Oliver had lost everything, his apartment, his business, his money, and his home. All of his possessions had either been repossessed or sold to pay off debts and they had been forced to start over from scratch with nothing more than the few belongings that Chloe had brought to Star City with her.

She still wasn't sure how it happened, Oliver was very vague with the details and every time Chloe brought it up he changed the subject. All she knew was this, one day thing were fine, the next all of his company assets had been stolen right out from under him in an aggressive hostile takeover and then his own board voted him out. The apartment and the cars and most of the things that Oliver had owned were all property of Queen Industries and they were all taken away with the company.

They would have been fine, he'd had a substantial amount of money on his own but then came the realization that he'd been funding an outside project, the JLA with company money. He'd set it up through a shell company that was a shell company that was a shell company that belonged to Queen Industries and before they knew it, the few remaining possession he had were sold to pay the company back, including his parents home and everything in it.

Chloe had tried her hardest to stop it; she and the guys had pooled all their money. She'd even gone to Lois and Clark, tried to get a loan from the bank but she couldn't raise enough money in time. The sting of standing in the entryway of the house that she'd come to love for the last time was still fresh in her memory. The house that she and Oliver spent practically every weekend and holiday at in the past three years, the house that she planned a future in. She cried as he handed over the keys. Not for the loss of the money or the property but the memories. The ones that she was scared of forgetting without the house there to remind her and the ones that she hadn't had a chance to make.

Oliver had been stoic at first, taking the whole thing in stride, acting as if it didn't bother him, that the money and the stuff was just an inconvenience anyway. He'd even seemed excited at first by the prospect of downsizing, of taking a vacation, something he hadn't done in years. He had called their new apartment cozy and comfortable. He went shopping with Chloe in thrift stores and re-sale shops to furnish their new place and called their style eclectic and fun.

But being out of work with nothing to fill his days, he had more and more time to think. Think about his life, think about his choices, think about his situation and the cheery façade had started to fade. The apartment went from cozy to cramped, their style from eclectic to tacky and his vacation from a dream come true to a living nightmare.

Pretty soon he wasn't even trying to pretend anymore. He was miserable about the whole situation and he made sure that Chloe knew it. Chloe wasn't exactly having the best time of her life either. She was holding everything together, all on her own, by a string, her life, Oliver's life and the guys, the JLA. It was hard and some days she wanted to quit, curl up in bed next to Oliver and just forget about the whole thing but she couldn't do that.

Eventually things would get better, she had to believe that. She had to do everything in her power to make Oliver believe that. It wasn't easy and there was a moment about a month ago when she thought for the first time that they might not survive this.

_Chloe was staring at the tulips in the trash can. She'd thought that Oliver had gotten them for her. Thought that maybe his attitude had changed but he took one look at them and threw them away, and ever since he'd been even more irritable. _

"_Gotham City?" Oliver asked dropping the plane ticket he found in her bag on the kitchen table. "You leaving me?" He tried to joke._

"_I have a business meeting." Chloe took a bite of her cereal. She was eating breakfast in a hurry over the kitchen sink, because their apartment had no room for a kitchen table. Which was fine because they didn't own a kitchen table._

"_A business meeting?" Oliver frowned at her confused. "What business do you have in Gotham?" _

"_JLA business." Chloe dumped the last of her cereal down the drain and rinsed out her bowl. "I'm meeting with someone who I think could take over the funding." She hadn't wanted to bring it up until the deal was done. She knew it was a touchy subject with Oliver. _

"_Right." Oliver nodded. "You need money to fight crime and I'm kind of broke." _

"_Oliver." Chloe sighed. "We agreed that I would be in charge of the team and yes we need money to keep going so I'm going out and I'm getting it." _

"_That's good." Oliver said. "That's great actually." He paused, putting the pieces together. Gotham City, someone who had enough money to throw away at something like the JLA, someone who Oliver would rather gouge his eye out then ask for help. His stomach twisted horribly and he turned to Chloe. "So are you going to go for the whole package?"_

"_What is that supposed to mean?" Chloe frowned. _

"_Like you had with me?" Oliver smiled. "After all you didn't just loose the JLA funding. You lost the penthouse and the fancy car and the house in the Hamptons." _

"_Oliver." Chloe was trying her hardest to be patient but he was going too far. _

"_Oh and let's not forget the jewels and the fancy dinners." Oliver laughed. "Hey, is he about my size? Cause he can just take the suit and have that part of my life too. What's his number? I should give him a call, maybe if I tell him how generous you are in the bedroom he'd thrown in a private plane." _

_The walls in the apartment complex were so thin that the neighbors next to them heard the sound of the slap from their kitchen table, but being used to the sounds of domestic violence they simply went back to their morning papers. They knew the drill, they'd call the cops in a few days if it started to smell. Chloe stood in front of Oliver, more upset than she'd ever been I her entire life. Oliver brought a hand up to his cheek and his face registered shock and shame and pain all at once. _

"_Chloe, that was way out of line." He whispered._

"_Yes it was." Chloe said stepping away from him calmly and grabbed her bag. "My flight leaves at ten, I'll call you when I land to let you know it got in ok." She picked up the plane ticket._

"_Chloe wait." _

"_Oliver, I really need to leave right now. I need to leave now because if I don't, the next time I leave I won't come back." She said tersely. _

"_Yeah ok." Oliver nodded and she walked to the door. She paused with her hand on the knob and turned around. She walked over to Oliver, rising on her tip toes and kissing him softly._

"_This isn't easy for me either. But I'm making the best of it. I wish you would too. I love you." She said before turning around and walking out of the apartment. _

She'd come back and he'd apologized over and over again and promised that he would try and do better, try and be better for her. A few days later a set of tickets came in for a charity ball that they'd paid for months before hand and Oliver suggested that they go, have one last hurrah at a fancy party, eat some caviar and drink some champagne before settling into a life of Raman noodles and off brand cola. Chloe had been reluctant but it was the first thing in a long time that had gotten him excited so she agreed.

So here she was wondering if she had enough money in her checking account to pay the electric bill about to head out to a party where the plates were a thousand dollars a head. Oliver stepped out of the bedroom straightening the cuffs on his tux and frowned at her. "What does it say about me that I'm flat broke, have no job and my girlfriend is supporting me but I still have a tuxedo?"

"It says that it was a custom made tuxedo fitted to your exact measurements and the bank didn't think it would fetch a high enough price at an auction." Chloe smiled straightening his tie.

Unlike Oliver, all of the gowns that she'd managed to accumulate over the past few years were repossessed and sold so she was wearing something out of Lois' closet that had been hastily hemmed the day before and was still slightly too long. That was good because that way no one would be able to see that her shoes were not Jimmy Choo's but Payless.

**********

The night could have gone worse but it also could have gone better. It wasn't bad so much as it was simply awkward. All of Chloe's friends, the ones she hadn't seen since moving from uptown to the warehouse district were as nice as could be and they all talked about doing lunch. But she knew that none of them were going to make the trek downtown to eat a .99 cent hotdog from a cart run by a guy name Milo. (In Milo's defense his hotdogs were some of the best in the city and he always offered them with a smile.) They also knew that Chloe couldn't afford a two hour lunch at Nobu anymore, then an afternoon at the spa.

As for Oliver's old friends and colleagues, they seemed inclined to give him peep talks and stock tips, suggesting if he'd just invest a few hundred grand he'd be back on his feet in no time. None of them seemed to realize that he didn't have a few hundred dollars, much less a few hundred grand.

They were standing with the Masons, the couple that Chloe and Oliver formerly shared a booth with at the opera. The Mason's were telling them all about the couple who had bought their tickets at the bank auction and how they were insufferable gum chewers when Oliver lost it. "If you'll excuse us." He smiled tersely and pulled Chloe away. "I can't do this Chloe. I thought I could, but I can't."

"This whole thing was your idea." Chloe pointed out to him as he pulled her down the hall.

"I'm not a part of this world anymore." He shook his head.

"I know." Chloe smiled sadly at him.

"And because of me, neither are you." He said and Chloe frowned.

"That doesn't matter to me, you know that doesn't matter." Chloe grabbed his arm. "I lived the first twenty five years of my life not being a part of this world, I can go the next twenty five just as happily."

"But you shouldn't have to." Oliver laughed bitterly. "You should be wearing a new dress, not one of Lois' hand me downs. You should be going to the Opera next week, it's the Snow Maiden your favorite. You should live in a nice apartment, not have to decide between electricity and groceries, be able to go to lunch with your friends. You should be in there right now bragging about how you're heading the fundraising committee for the Hospital's Gala this year and not have to hear Sissy Parker talk about how she had to take over from you because you couldn't handle it."

"Oliver I don't…wait, Sissy Parker is saying I couldn't handle the Hospital fundraiser? I re-invented the Hospital fundraiser." Chloe protested and Oliver offered her a small smile. "That's not the point.'

"It is though, you deserve all of those things and more and I can't give them to you anymore." Oliver said.

"Is this about me getting the funding for the JLA somewhere else because if it bothers you that much I'll have a bake sale. I'll build the computers from scratch, I'll tell the guys to fly commercial."

Oliver laughed. "It's not just about that. I hate that I can't provide for you, I hate that you have to go somewhere else, to someone else for anything. I feel like I let you down. You deserve better than that. You deserve better than me." He kissed her forehead and walked away, out of the ballroom and by the time Chloe realized he was leaving he was already gone.

**********

"Another." Oliver slid his empty glass to Mary, the bartender and for a second regretted it. The scotch was twenty dollars a glass and he was on his third. But there was hundred dollar bill burning a hole in his pocket, the last money he had in the world, and he wasn't leaving until he'd spent it.

"I've been looking all over town for you." Chloe said climbing up on the barstool beside him. She'd gone back in to retrieve her bag and her keys and left the party. She'd gone to all his old haunts but he couldn't afford them anymore so she tried the park and the waterfront with no luck. She was heading down the street for their apartment, hoping that he was there when she passed the Stout Goat, a bar that she must walk by a hundred times a week but never bothered to go in. She pressed her luck and there he was, sitting at the bar.

"Go home Chloe." Oliver grunted, not bothering to look up.

"No." She shook her head. "No, we need to talk about this."

"There is nothing to talk about." Oliver told her, grabbing the glass that Mary handed him and taking a slow sip of the amber liquid.

"Like hell there isn't." Chloe argued. "What exactly was that back there? Cause, and stop me if I get to crazy for you, but it sounded like you were breaking up with me." She laughed humorlessly.

"So what if I was?" Oliver turned to look at her finally, his eyes tired and cloudy from the scotch, his face unreadable. "You'd be a hell of a lot better off without me weighing you down."

"Weighing me down?" Chloe asked him. "Is that really what you think?"

"Yes." He nodded. "God Chloe, just look at me; I'm in a twenty thousand dollar tux, in a dive bar, drinking twenty dollar scotch that I can't really afford. I've got no job, no home, no prospects. I've got nothing to offer you Chloe."

Chloe stared at him for a second, her expression unreadable and Oliver let out a sigh of relief when she nodded slowly and jumped off the barstool. The twisting in his stomach as he watched her walk angrily away from him was eased slightly by a small sense of relief. He truly did believe that she would be better off without him and all he cared about was that Chloe was ok.

The background music of the Stout Goat had always been a mix of classic 70's rock with a bit of metal thrown. It wasn't uncommon on any given night to hear a bit of AC/DC, Skynard, even some Metallica. So the abrupt cessation of heavy drums and loud guitars was jarring to say the least and Oliver, as well as all the other patrons of the bar, turned almost as one to face the jukebox as John Lennon's voice flowed out of the speakers instead of Robert Plant or David Lee Roth.

_There's nothing you can do that can't be done._

_Nothing you can sing that can't be sung._

Chloe was standing next to it sheepishly looking out at all the confused faces. "Sorry." She winced. "I'm just trying to make a point here; it'll be over in a second promise." When they all continued to stare at her she glared right back. "Hey you're the ones who had in there in the first place." She pointed out before turning to Oliver.

"Chloe?" He asked standing up.

"I'd rather wear a nice pair of comfy jeans over a fancy dress any day." She told him. "I hate to break this to you, but I hate the opera with the fiery passion of a thousand burning stars. I just pretended to like it because I thought you did." Oliver smiled. "And you're apartment was too big to begin with, no one who doesn't cook needs three dishwashers and I constantly got lost trying to find the bathroom the first few weeks I lived there."

"Chloe." Oliver hung his head.

"Lunch with my friends? Those girls were never really my friends, friends don't abandon you when times get tough, besides, do you know how ridiculous I feel shelling out two hundred dollars for a few pieces of sushi? I'll take Milo's hotdogs, three for two bucks hands down." She smiled as she walked closer to him.

"Milo does have the best hot dogs in town." A guy playing pool agreed with her. A murmur of consent hummed through the bar and Chloe realized that everyone was listening to her.

"And as far as Sissy Parker goes, she's just a bitch who's upset because her husband is gay and everyone knew before she did." Oliver laughed. "I didn't love your money or your stuff or your lifestyle. I love you, you big dumb ass."

"I love you too." Oliver assured her.

"Look, I know when this whole thing started we said that I would run the team and you would run the relationship. I'm sorry but you're not doing that great a job so at the moment I'm going to have to relieve you of command." Chloe smiled at him and he nodded. "Oliver Queen will you marry me?" Everyone was silent and the only sound in the whole place was John Lennon.

_There's nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time, It's easy._

_All you need is love, all you need is love_

_All you need is love, love, love is all you need._

A minute passed Oliver hadn't said anything so Chloe's smile started to fade. "Oliver?" Her breath caught in her throat and tears welled up in her eyes and suddenly she wondered if she'd read the entire situation wrong.

"Chloe." He said softly.

"No wait." She took a few steps back from him. "I did that wrong. We don't really do well with questions." She reminded him pushing back the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes and forcing a large smile on her face. "We tend to give the wrong answers so how about this." She looked around the room and then smiled at the guy who'd agreed with her about Milo. "Excuse me…"

"Jake." The man introduced himself.

"Can I borrow that pool cue Jake?" She asked sweetly.

"Sure thing." He nodded and passed it over.

Chloe turned back to Oliver and took a deep breath. "8 ball, corner pocket." She pointed to the table. "I make this shot and you marry me."

"And if you miss?" Oliver asked her, slightly scared of the answer.

"I'm not going to miss." Chloe assured him.

The hope on her face was only outshined by the determination that was in her eyes and he nodded. "Ok." Oliver stood up and walked over to the pool table.

"Ok." Chloe nodded and turned around to face the pool table. "Chalk?" She asked Jake. He hurriedly handed over the chalk and her hands shook as she took it from him. Chloe took a deep breath and motioned Jake to come closer. "Which pocket did I call?" She whispered.

Jake stared at her for a second. "Um, the one in the top right." He answered her. "Have you ever played pool before?"

"Once, maybe twice." Chloe laughed nervously.

"Right." Jake smiled hopefully at her. "Uh, good luck."

"Thanks." Chloe nodded and walked up to the table.

The green felt of the pool table was suddenly far more ominous that green felt ever had a right to be. Chloe walked around the table determining the best angle to come at the eight ball. She stopped moved to set up her shot and Jake started to cough violently. Chloe looked up and he subtly shook his head no. She stood up straight and moved to the left; Jake shook his head again and Chloe moved to the right a little. He nodded and Chloe smiled her thanks before bending over. She gripped the back of the pool cue with her right hand and laid her left hand flat on the table.

"Hold on." She stood up and passed the cue off to the woman on her right before leaning down and taking off her shoes. She wiggled her toes and sighed in relief before reaching under the folds of her dress. There was a loud ripping sound and Chloe emerged holding yards and yards of tulle in her hands, dropping it on the floor before looking around at the patrons. "Does anyone have a pocket knife?" She asked and before she finished the sentence three were held out in front of her for her to choose from. She grabbed the closest one and opened it up. She pulled the skirt in her hands, said a small apology to Lois before plunging the knife into the fabric, ripping a hole in big enough to fit her fingers. She passed the knife back to its owner, grabbed onto the cut she'd made and ripped and pulled the fabric until she had turned a floor length gown into a cocktail dress. She deposited the extra fabric on top of the tulle and smiled. "Much better."

The jukebox was still playing but the only sound Chloe could hear was her own blood pounding in her ears. She placed the top of the pool cue under her finger and slid the stick back and forth a few times to gauge her aim and balance. She looked up at Oliver and smiled, he looked worried and she was willing to bet that he was worried she wouldn't make the shot. "Here goes nothing." Chloe winked at him.

When people experience life changing moments, they often say that things moved in slow motion. Oliver had never experienced that until now. He watched Chloe slid the pool cue into the cue ball. He watched as the white ball slowly made its way to the eight ball, each revelation felt like it took hours. The cue ball hit the eight ball practically dead on and after a brief pause where neither of them seemed to move, both balls continued their journey to the pocket.

Every single person in the bar seemed to be holding their breath and they let out an excited yell as the eight ball bounced off the edge of the table and then slipped into the pocket. Chloe breathed out a sigh of relief and looked up at Oliver who was smiling at her over the table. Someone gasped and Chloe and Oliver looked down. They watched as the cue ball balanced itself precariously on the edge of the pocket before falling in on top of the eight ball.

Chloe looked up in shock. "I scratched it." She looked around the bar, her face so heartbroken it was painful to look at. "I can't believe I scratched it."

"Doesn't count." Jake said suddenly. Everyone turned their attention to him and he floundered a bit. "It doesn't. The bet was just for the eight ball, the other was just…gravy."

"Gravy?" Chloe repeated hopefully.

"Gravy." Mary agreed and the whole bar seemed to nod in unison.

"So what do you say?" Chloe turned to Oliver. "Bet's a bet."

Lennon was still playing on the radio and Oliver listened for a minute.

_There's nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be, it's easy._

_All you need is love, all you need is love._

_All you need is love, love, love is all you need._

"I have no money." Oliver reminded her testing that particular theory of John's.

"Hate the stuff." Chloe smiled.

"I can't give you a big wedding." Oliver said putting his hands on her waist.

"Big weddings are just excuse to feed people you don't really like." Chloe told him.

"We'll probably have to live in that tiny apartment for a few more years." Oliver pulled her closer.

"It's not tiny, it's cozy." She smirked.

"I'm going to warn you that this is likely not going to be the last incident of me being a total jack ass."

"That's ok." Chloe said. "If you weren't a jack ass every now and then I would never have a chance to be right." He didn't say anything else so Chloe smiled bigger.

"Well, do you have a ring?" Oliver asked.

Chloe's face fell and she searched desperately around the bar for something she could use. "Wait a minute." The guy who'd handed her the pocket knife called out. He had a grease smeared t-shirt and a set of tattoos running the length of both of his arms. He set his beer on the counter and dug in his pockets with a determined look on his face. "Aha." He smiled triumphantly and held out his hand to Chloe. When he opened his fingers, sitting there was a rather large stainless steel bolt, and on that bolt a rather large stainless steel nut.

"Perfect." Chloe smiled, quickly unscrewing the nut from the bolt and turning to Oliver.

Oliver smirked and Chloe slipped the piece of metal on his finger, it was too big but neither of them cared. "Will you marry me?"

"I guess I have to now don't I?" He said with a smile and Chloe threw her arms around his neck. He lifted her up and spun her around, laughter erupting from somewhere deep inside of him, some place where it had been hiding for the past few months. He set her down and looked at her, really looked at her and he suddenly saw her. She was standing in a seedy bar, her hair still meticulously done, not a curl out of place, her dress hastily torn falling slightly below her knees, her feet bare on the dirty concrete floor and the biggest smile on her face. He realized rich or poor it didn't matter, as long as he woke up to her face every day for the rest of his life.

Everyone at the bar was offering their congratulations to the newly engaged couple but Oliver wasn't even listening. He was staring at Chloe. "What?" She finally asked him.

"I've been such an idiot these past few weeks haven't I?" He frowned at her.

"Lucky for you I have a soft spot for idiots." She beamed up at him and he couldn't resist leaning down and kissing her. It was meant to be a soft brush of the lips but when his lips met hers, he suddenly realized how long it had been since he truly and properly kissed her. His lips took over on instinct and he reveled in all the little things that he used to take for granted. He'd missed the way she automatically angled her body against his, the way her fingers tightened in his hair when his teeth grazed the sensitive inside of her bottom lip. He'd missed the little sound she made in the back of his throat when he pulled her closer, pressing his body up against hers. He'd missed her.

They were brought back to reality by the sudden shrill sound of a whistle and a bunch of drunken cat calls and they pulled apart sheepishly. Chloe cleared her throat, her hand on Oliver's arm for support. "Round of drinks for everyone." Chloe called out. "On me." The cat calls changed to cheers and Chloe smiled over at Oliver. "I've always wanted to say that."

"Chloe." Oliver shook his head. "I'm all for celebrating but we can't afford that."

"Oh we're not paying." Chloe said pulling what looked like a black Am-Ex out of her bag.

"Where did you get that?" Oliver's eyes went wide.

"The JLA's new financial backer." Chloe said. "I think I'll write this off as a business expense."

Oliver grabbed the card from her in shock and read the name on the front confirming his suspicions. He raised his eyebrows. "How in the world did you convince Bruce Wayne to fund the JLA?"

"I just casually mentioned his own penchant for black leather and vigilantism and he was eager enough to open his checkbook." Chloe shrugged.

"You blackmailed him?" Oliver smiled at her.

"No." She sighed annoyed. "I just reminded him that we were on the same side. I pointed out all the good that we'd done and all the good we could continue to do if we had the capital. But I sound way more bad ass when I say that I blackmailed him."

****************

Two hours later Chloe snuggled up against Oliver's side in a booth in the back of the bar as Jake and Randy, the guy who'd given them the "ring" talked. "So you mean to tell me that six months ago you owned a McLaren F1 and now you ride the bus?" Jack asked. "That's like a million dollar car."

"A million five after he got finished customizing it." Chloe rolled her eyes. "I hated that car; you only bought that car after Bruce bought the Ferrari Enzo."

"That's not true. I was on the waiting list for the McLaren when the Enzo was just a twinkle in Bruce's eye." Oliver pointed out.

"But you owned a million dollar car. I will kill to drive one of those things, just around the block, I couldn't even imagine owning one." Jack laughed taking a sip of his beer.

"It stuck in third." Oliver said trying to make him feel better. "The bus is a much smoother ride."

"Liar." Jack smirked.

"I know the groom doesn't normally have a lot of input in the whole wedding thing but seeing as we don't really have any money, I think we should have our reception here." Oliver turned to Chloe.

"At the Stout Goat?" Chloe asked and he nodded. "We could have Milo cater it." Oliver laughed.

"I'm sure he'd be delighted." He rested his arm around her waist and pulled her closer. "So what do you say?"

Chloe looked around the bar, thinking that if this was going to be a part of her new life, she could do worse. "It could be worse. It could be five hundred of our closest friends drinking champagne and eating stuffy food in the grand ballroom of the Plaza." Chloe and Oliver both suppressed a little shudder.

"I love you." Oliver said.

"Good, cause you're stuck with me now." Chloe smiled up at him.

**Present Day**

Mia stared at Chloe. It was hard to reconcile the girl from the story with the one sitting in front of her now. It was hard to picture her dancing barefoot on top of a bar, not a care in the world and Mia was suddenly mourning the loss of that girl, the one she'd never known but probably would have liked.

The story had managed to put the ghost of a smile on Chloe's face while she was telling it but it was gone now, replaced with the blank vacant stare she'd had on before. Everyone knew their story, the riches to rags to riches part anyway. One day Oliver Queen was everything. The richest man in Star City, the third richest man in the world and the next he was nothing. About a year later though, mysterious he was back. He'd gotten his company, his money, and his house and it was almost as if nothing had happened. He never talked about what the media referred to as his "lost year". Some people called it a big publicity stunt, something a PR person came up with, have the rich guy live like a pauper for a year. There was speculation that it was even filmed to be used at a later date in some sort of reality television format but it had been two years and no show to speak of.

For her part Mia believed it be true. Granted she was trained to see the small changes, the insignificant shifts in personality that other might not but she'd seen them in Oliver Queen. When he got his money back he didn't immediately go back to the fancy cars and the fancy clothes and the fancy diners. He didn't even go back to the penthouse, instead choosing a much smaller apartment in the city for the work week and moving into his parent's house out in the country full time. He practically tripled his yearly charity donations, set up three more scholarship funds and personally volunteered once a month at the local homeless shelter.

The only significant change had been his taste in jewelry. He'd never been one for flash, sure he drove the million dollar cars and bough the ten thousand dollar sunglasses but he didn't walk around in gold chains or diamond encrusted watches. But after his lost year, he was never seen without his necklace. It was a simply silver chain around which hung a very large stainless steel nut. Mia had often speculated that it was a reminder of a blue collar life, of a place that he could just as easily go back to if the market changed and his luck didn't hold, but now she realized it was far more personal than that.

She was now convinced more than ever that there was no way that Chloe had anything to do with whatever it was that happened to her husband. She was also worried if they didn't get to the bottom of this, if they didn't find him and find him alive, then Chloe would never again be that care free girl who danced barefoot on bars.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: In case you hadn't noticed, you are sort of learning this story backwards, so people and things are going to be mentioned that you are unfamiliar with, but you didn't miss something, you just haven't got there yet. Please just bare with me and all will be clear in the end.

* * *

Mia leaned against the wall behind the station and exhaled the smoke loudly. The rough edges of the cinderblocks dug into the thin material of her shirt and she thought about moving but she was too exhausted. "Smoking's bad for you." Lois walked out the back door startling Mia who dropped the cigarette to the ground as she jumped away from the wall. "Sorry." Lois smiled sheepishly.

"Don't worry about it." Mia shook her head. "Like you said, it's bad for you." Mia stretched her neck and sighed. "I've talked to the Chief, until we can be sure about what exactly is going on here, we're going to keep the story out of the press. The last thing we need is a picture of your cousin in a bloody wedding gown splashed all over the TV and newspapers."

"Thanks." Lois nodded.

"How's it going in there?" Mia bent over, stretching her back muscles out.

"No luck." Lois shook her head and sighed.

After telling the story about how she proposed, Chloe sipped the coffee, made a face and said, "This is disgusting." Then she set the cup on the coffee table and just tuned out again. She still hadn't recognized Lois or acknowledged the fact that she was even there.

"Maybe we should call in some reinforcements." Mia sighed. "Is there anyone else in town you could get over here?"

"Yeah, I can have them here in twenty minutes." Lois nodded pulling out her phone. "I just wish…"

"Look, even if she doesn't show it." Mia laid a hand on Lois' shoulder. "She knows you're here."

"For all she knows, I'm the coffee lady." Lois scoffed she'd been experimenting with the coffee in the lounge, trying different ratios of water to grounds, trying to get something resembling actual coffee for Chloe to drink, hoping it would help her. She must have brought her six different cups in the past hour alone. Chloe sipped each one, made a face then set the cup on the table. Something clicked in Lois head and she smiled slightly. "I just got an idea." She hung up the call she was about to make and dialed a new number.

******************

"Who is this guy?" Wise asked a half hour later, confused as he watched a young man pull a small yet packed coffee cart, a miniature version of the kind you would find on the streets, down the hallway of the police station.

"Mason." Mia said as Lois and Mason talked. He nodded and then started to measure out and grind coffee beans.

"And Mason is?" Wise asked sniffing something wonderful as the coffee started to percolate.

"The coffee guy." Mia shrugged.

"_The _coffee guy?" Wise turned to her. "He win some contest or something."

"I'm a little fuzzy on the details myself." Mia admitted.

"Is this like a rich person thing?" Wise furrowed his brow. "Is he like the barista to the stars?"

Mia snorted at the thought then shrugged. "I have no idea, but Lois is convinced it'll help and at this point I'll try anything." Mia knew that the first forty eight hours of an investigation were the most important. The last time Lois reported seeing Chloe was around eight p.m. the night before. Based on the fact that Chloe was still in her wedding dress they were assuming whatever happened, happened last night after the reception, before they got home.

Chloe had stumbled into the station around seven a.m. and it was getting on noon and they hadn't gotten anything out of her. They still didn't know where Oliver was, they didn't know what happened, they didn't even know where to start looking. They'd discreetly dispatched officers to Oliver's family home where Lois said they were spending their wedding night before taking Oliver's jet to Morocco. The jet was still on the tarmac, the pilot never received any change in plans. They house looked as if no one had been there in a while, the car not in the driveway. The route they would have taken from the reception hall at the Marquee Hotel to the house had been driven multiple times with nothing out of the ordinary reported. There was a "lookout" bulletin for Oliver's car but nothing had come of it yet.

Frankly they needed all the help they could get and if Lois thought that some guy named Mason could help them, then Mia was willing to try it. Mason nervously put the finishing touches on the cup of coffee in his hands and then followed Mia and Lois down the hall to the notification room.

"Miss Sullivan." Mason stood in the doorway in shock; Lois must not have warned him. He looked over at Lois who motioned for him to go further in the room. "I'm sorry. Ms. Queen?"

Chloe turned her head and looked at Mason, actually looked at him, not just through him. "Mason?" Chloe asked confused.

"Him she remembers." Lois whispered under her breath but Mia was smiling, this was progress.

Mason nodded encouragingly at Chloe. "I brought you some coffee." He held out a mug and Chloe took it, bringing it up to her nose and inhaling deeply.

Her shoulders seemed to sag, her whole body relaxing, curling around the aroma drifting from the top of the mug. "Peppermint?" Chloe smiled and closed her eyes. Trying to remember the last time she'd smelled peppermint coffee.

_Chloe opened her eyes slowly, sure that she was still dreaming, she had to still be dreaming. She was either dreaming or she was dead because the smell coming out of her kitchen was heavenly. She sat up in bed and smiled to see Oliver in the bedroom doorway. "What did you do?" Chloe asked cautiously. _

"_Nothing." Oliver walked further in the small room and held out the mug in his hands. _

_Chloe took it hesitantly and inhaled deeply, to make sure her imagination hadn't run away with her. "Oliver. It's not nothing, this is peppermint coffee. Peppermint coffee from that little French café downtown." _

"_How do you know where it's from?" Oliver asked._

"_Come on, this is me your talking to." Chloe took a small hesitant sip and then slid back down into the bed in ecstasy. Oliver quickly grabbed the mug from her hands. "Not to mention the fact I've been dreaming of this coffee for a year." _

"_I know." Oliver said. "Since November you've made me walk past that café, every single day." _

"_And it's twenty dollars a pound. We can't afford this." Chloe reminded him. "We can't afford any of this." She nodded out the bedroom door where she could smell bacon and sausage, hash browns, eggs and pancakes._

"_But it's your Christmas tradition." Oliver sat on the bed and smiled at her. For as long as she could remember her father had made her a huge Christmas morning feast with a tall glass of peppermint milk, made from his own secret recipe. When she got older, peppermint milk turned to peppermint coffee but the breakfast was always the same. _

"_That sweet really." Chloe kissed him softly. "But you were the one who insisted on the Christmas tree, which means that our electric bill next month is going to be bigger. Which means that we can't afford to splurge on groceries we don't need, tradition or not." _

"_I didn't." Oliver stood up and held out his hand. Chloe slid her fingers in his palm and allowed him to pull her out of the bed and into the kitchen. She stood and stared at the chaos that filled her apartment and couldn't help but smile. _

_Bart was manning the stove, showing off as usual. He was flipping eggs in one skillet, bacon in another, and pancakes on an electric griddle, that Chloe knew she didn't own so he must have brought with him. She watched, entranced as he tossed a cooked pancake in the air behind him, sped off, caught it on the other side of the room with a plate, and was back at the stove to flip the bacon before it burned. AC was buttering the finished pancakes while Victor set the table. Dinah walked in, dropped an armload of presents under the tree and then walked back out, for what Chloe assumed was another load, as Lois stood in the middle orchestrating the whole thing. _

"_Where's…" Chloe trailed off as Clark opened the door and tried to drag a Christmas tree the size of a Buick into her apartment. "Lois?" Chloe stepped forward. "What's going on?" _

"_Bart's making breakfast. Oh and I got you a Christmas tree." Lois smiled. "I picked it out this morning. 75% off, Christmas morning special." _

"_Ok." Chloe smiled. "But I have a tree." _

"_You mean, Charlie Brown's little friend over there?" Lois motioned the scrawny tree that was sitting by Chloe's window._

"_Hey!" Chloe walked over and smiled at her tree. "I like my tree, I picked out this tree, I decorated this tree, and it was all I could afford." _

_Lois turned around to the door where Clark was still struggling ignoring Chloe's protests. "Hey, I don't understand what the holdup is." Lois glared at him. "I mean you've got super strength, you can't carry one measly little tree into the room?"_

"_Hardly little." Clark glared at her. "And I can get it into the apartment but I'll take half the wall will me." _

"_Well that ruins everything." Lois pouted. "My fiancé can stop trains going hundreds of miles an hour and yet he can't get a tree in an apartment." _

"_Because the tree you picked out is too big." Clark snapped at her. _

"_Did you just say fiancé?" Chloe walked over to Lois who smiled and held out her left hand, wiggling her fingers. "Oh my God." Chloe grabbed it and stared at the ring. It was simple and understated; a single teardrop cut diamond on a platinum band. So opposite of everything Lois was but at the same time perfect for her. _

"_It's no stainless steel bolt nut but…"_

"_It's beautiful." Chloe smiled at her. _

"_Oh for heaven's sake." Lois threw up her hands as Victor, AC and Clark huddled around the door trying to figure out how to get the tree in. "I'd better go deal with this, they aren't exactly the brain trust." _

_Chloe laughed and walked over to the kitchen where Bart was still busy cooking. She kissed him on the cheek, startling him so badly that he dropped an entire pan of biscuits on the ground. "What was that for?" Bart stuttered as he picked up the now ruined biscuits and threw them in the trash. _

"_It's Christmas." Chloe shrugged. "And I'm willing to bet that this whole thing was your idea." _

"_Well, any excuse to eat right?" Bart blushed and went back to the stove. Chloe leaned over and kissed him again. This time all he dropped was a spatula. "What was that for?" _

"_Being modest." She smiled and walked over to the couch to watch Lois try to explain how they were going to bend the tree in half to get it in the apartment. _

_She looked down to the coffee table to reach for her cup, only it wasn't where she sat it down. In its place was a small round black leather box. _

"_Merry Christmas." Oliver said from over her shoulder. _

_  
"Oliver." Chloe whispered, her hands shaking as she reached for the box. "Please tell me you didn't…I said I didn't need an engagement ring." _

"_Would you just open it?" Oliver walked over to couch and sat down next to her. _

"_I'm scared." Chloe admitted to him. _

"_You're scared?" Oliver laughed. "Chloe Sullivan, the woman who has faced down a multitude of Meta's, Lionel Luther, and Lois Lane on occasion is afraid of a ring box?"_

_Chloe slapped his arm. "I'm afraid that I'm going to love it but I'm not going to be able to keep it." _

"_Why wouldn't you be able to keep it?" Oliver frowned at her. _

"_Because if we couldn't afford the groceries for breakfast I know we can't afford whatever is in that box." Chloe looked over at him sadly. _

_Oliver took the box away from her and opened it while she protested, turning the box to face her and her smile fell. "You hate it?" Oliver asked concerned. _

"_I love it." Chloe reached out slowly and pulled the ring out of the box. There was a large round diamond in the middle of the ring with five smaller diamonds on either side that looked like leaves and the whole thing was surrounded on the top and the bottom by a row of even smaller diamonds. She pulled her hand back at the last second. "Tell me the truth, did you rob a bank?" Chloe asked him. "Do we need to run to Mexico?"_

"_No." Oliver rolled his eyes at her and took the ring out of the box, slipping it on her finger. "It was my mothers." _

_Chloe frowned. "Your mom's?" _

"_Actually it was my grandmothers." Oliver explained. _

"_But all of her stuff was sold at the auction." Chloe couldn't take her eyes off the ring. _

"_I know." Oliver said. "I tracked down the buyer and convinced him to sell it back to me, for only a little bit more than what he paid for it." _

"_But where did you get the money?" Chloe asked. _

"_A friend." Oliver said. "He's letting me pay him back in installments." _

"_Tell me you didn't go to Bruce for the money?" She bit her lip and Oliver actually laughed shaking his head. "Wait a minute." She stood up and walked over to the window. Everyone was already here when she woke up but that was impossible because she would have heard Bart before he even got to her block. Chloe turned away from the window and walked purposefully to the kitchen. She stopped right next to the stove and just stared at him for a minute. _

"_Chloe?" Bart asked confused. "Everything ok?" _

"_Where's your bike?" Chloe asked. _

"_I uh…decided not to drive it today." He shrugged. _

"_Bart." Chloe took another step forward. "Where's your bike?" _

"_I sold it." Bart shrugged._

_Chloe frowned at him. "You loved that bike."_

"_I can run faster than the bike can drive." He said. "Besides, it went to a good cause." _

"_Put down the bowl." She said motioning to the glass bowl he was holding with the hash browns in it. _

"_What?" Bart asked. _

"_Put down the bowl." She laughed and he set the bowl on the counter. Chloe reached up slowly and grabbed either side of his face gently before leaning forward and placing a soft, chaste, kiss on his lips. She pulled away and smiled. He was standing there frozen, which was a big deal for Bart, his eyes closed with a sort of ethereal look on his face. "You're my favorite you know." She whispered in his ear._

"_Ok, we got it." Lois called out from the building's hallway. _

_Chloe turned to go see and Victor walked in the kitchen past Bart, grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge and then walked away. He stopped, turned around, and poked Bart in the shoulder. "Dude, I think Chloe broke Bart." He called out before walking away. _

_Chloe laughed and walked back to the kitchen. She grabbed Bart's arm and pulled him to the doorway. They stood in the hallway of the building and stared at Christmas tree which really was too large. "Couldn't get it in the apartment?" Chloe sipped her coffee with a smile. _

"_I think it looks better in the hallway." Lois shrugged. "Livens this place up a bit." _

"_Yeah." Chloe nodded. "And it'll be a good winter home for all the rats." She turned and walked back into the apartment. _

"_Rats?" Lois screamed after her. _

"_We don't have rats." Oliver said to Chloe then stopped. "Do we?" _

"_No." Chloe shook her head. "But maybe it'll stop her from showing up unannounced in the future." _

Chloe smiled at the memory then frowned because it was wrong. Not the memory itself, no that was fine. She had this nagging feeling however that Christmas was not the last time she'd had peppermint coffee. She thought about it harder and remembered sitting on the balcony of her apartment, watching the sun rise. That was before the noise, before the pain. The mug slipped from her grip, slamming into the ground and shattering in a shower of coffee and glass. She let out a choked sob and then shook her head, she didn't want to think about it, couldn't think about it. She screwed her eyes shut tightly and in a second Wise was by her side, rocking her gently, whispering words of comfort in her ears.

Mia sagged against the doorframe. It had been going so good, Chloe seemed as if she was actually warming up, ready to open up and then she remembered something, something she didn't like and Mia could actually see as right before her very eyes Chloe shut down again.

"Chloe?" The voice was sharp and confused and coming from behind her. Mia turned and saw Lois' eyes fill with what looked like relief at the arrival of the newcomers. There were five of them, one woman with long dark hair, and four guys. Mia pushed herself off the doorframe as Lois walked over and embraced the tallest guy there, that strong façade falling once more.

The one who had called Chloe's name, the one that sounded so despondent at seeing her in that condition, the kid really, ran to sit in front of her, balancing on the edge of the coffee table. He reached out and slowly, hesitantly, and pushed some hair out of her face, holding her cheek in his palm. She stared at him but she didn't see him, she didn't see any of them. He rubbed a thumb over the small sharp cuts on her face and she winced at the pain but did nothing else. "Chloe, what happened?"

Her eyes focused softly on his face but still she didn't see him. "Something…something happened. I lost…" She turned her head to the left and found Mason. "Could I have more coffee please?"

"Peppermint?" He asked.

"No!" She screamed, so forcefully that the kid jumped up as if burned. "No peppermint."

"Ok." Mason nodded.

"Bart." Lois said softly to the kid and he followed her out of the room, Mason right behind him. Mia closed the door and led them all into the small kitchenette, waiting for Lois to compose herself enough for introductions.

"These are Chloe's friends." Lois finally said as the man she'd hugged, grabbed her hand and squeezed. "No, that's not right." She frowned. "There more like her family." She finished the introductions. The taller man's name was Clark, Lois' fiancé, and of course the kid was Bart. The woman, who looked slightly familiar, was apparently Dinah Lance. Mia vaguely remembered she used to have a conservative talk show. The other guys were introduced as Victor and AC. Mason, for lack of anything to do, set about making a pot of non-peppermint coffee.

"You didn't say much on the phone." Clark said quietly. "Just that Oliver was missing and Chloe was hurt. What happened?"

"We don't know." Lois shook her head. "Chloe can't remember or won't remember, we're not sure."

"She's obviously suffered some traumatic event and until she feels safe again, I'm afraid we may never know." Mia told them.

"But that person in there…" Bart said defiantly. "That's not Chloe."

"Bart." Victor looked over at him.

"Did you see her? It's like there wasn't anyone there." Bart jumped up angrily. "What have you been doing?" Mia was surprised by the venom in his voice. "I mean besides sitting here with your thumbs up your asses? Have you been looking for him? Is he even alive? And what have you been doing for her? She's sitting in that room, in that dress and-"

"Bart." Clark snapped at him and he was instantly quiet. Mia realized there seemed to be some sort of power struggle going on here and though Clark had a good two feet and a hundred pounds on the kid, she'd bet her life savings that Bart would come out on top. Bart glared at Clark for a good minute before turning and walking to the door, painfully slowly. "Where are you going?" Clark asked him.

"To do what they obviously can't do." Bart snorted. "I'm going to find Oliver, I'm going to fix Chloe."

He slammed the door behind him and Mia got up and walked to the door to protest, to try and stop him, to tell him he would just get in the way of the real police work. When she looked out into the hallway though, a mere seconds after he'd stormed out, he was nowhere to be seen, gone, disappeared into thin air.

"He's slightly protective." Lois said to Mia as if that explained everything. Mason set mugs down in front of everyone and Mia smiled. She paused for a moment, savoring her first sip of coffee in what felt like years, that didn't taste like old tires.

"He has a point though." AC spoke for the first time. "Chloe doesn't seem like Chloe."

"I know." Victor shook his head. "I can't believe that's the same girl that just yesterday was blackmailing me."

"Blackmailing you?" Dinah asked confused.

"Oh yeah, wanted to make sure my wedding toast wasn't too embarrassing." Victor smiled and sipped his own coffee.

"What on earth could she have to blackmail you with?" AC scoffed. "You're like a monk."

"You remember when Oliver was trying to convince Chloe to move to Star City?" Victor asked.

"Yeah." Dinah and AC said cautiously.

"Apparently there's video." Victor said.

"No." Dinah's face blanched.

"Oh yes." Lois smiled for the first time in a while. "I've got multiple copies."

"How much…" Dinah asked her.

"Not enough money in the world." She shook her head.

"What are you guys talking about?" Clark asked confused. They all looked at Lois, figuring that she could tell the story best and she sighed.

**Five Years Ago**

"Have you thought about it?" Oliver asked.

"I have thought about thinking about it." Chloe moved the phone to the other ear and she heard Oliver sigh. "Look I've been really busy."

"You've been really busy not thinking about it." Oliver pointed out.

"In my defense…" Chloe started but had no way to finish the sentence because she really had no defense.

"That's what I thought." Oliver said annoyed. "I asked you two weeks ago."

"And it's a big decision." Chloe told him.

"Do you miss me?" Oliver asked before she could launch into another round of excuses.

"Of course I miss you." Chloe assured him.

"Do you like that we only we get to see each other every other weekend?" Oliver asked.

"No." Chloe said slightly annoyed. "But you know as well as I do that those aren't the only considerations in this whole thing. I've got a job here, clients…"

"That you could easily turn over to one of your more than qualified assistants. You could start an Isis Foundation in Star City. It's not like we're running low on Meta's over here."

"That's not the point Oliver." Chloe scolded him.

"I have a job here, a company." Oliver said. "I have a business and employees that depend on me."

"So your job is more important than my job?" Chloe asked.

"That's not what I said and you know it." Oliver snapped at her.

"But that's what you think." Chloe said. "Did you ever once consider moving to Metropolis?"

"No." Oliver admitted truthfully. "That's just not feasible. I can't drop my whole life and move out there."

"But you expect me to drop mine and move to California?" Chloe asked. "You know I love you, you know I want to live with you but…"

"What I know is that two weeks ago I asked you to move in with me and you've all but avoided me ever since." Oliver said hurt.

"Oliver." Chloe sighed.

"I've got to go." Oliver hung up and Chloe stared at the phone for a minute before hanging up herself.

***************

He didn't call that night. He didn't call the next day either and Chloe was too stubborn and truth be told to scared to call him. That didn't stop her from staring at her phone for hours on end wishing he would call, or dialing his number only to stop before pressing send. "Trouble in paradise?" Bart asked standing in front of her desk on the third morning as she stared at her office phone.

"What are you doing here?" Chloe pushed past him to pour a cup coffee. "Aren't you in Star City this week?"

"I was." Bart shrugged. "But Oliver really hasn't been in the best mood and you know his tolerance of me is short when he's in a _good_ mood so I thought I'd make myself scarce. You're doing I take it?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Please don't." Chloe shook her head.

"Look, we're not stupid." Bart said. "We know what's going on and if we get a say in the matter…"

"You don't." Chloe told him.

"We all say you should move to Star City." Bart sat down.

"You all should keep your opinions to yourself." Chloe told him.

"Look, this is just as hard on us as it is on you." Bart explained to her. "We're like kids stuck in a crappy custody situation. One week we're in Star City with Oliver and the next we're in Metropolis with you. We're like nomads, we have no real homes. We just want everyone to be together."

Chloe sighed at him and then smiled. "So why exactly should we all live in Star City? Why not Metropolis? What's so great about California?"

"Well for one thing." Bart said. "Metropolis is Superman's territory and as awesome as Clark is with a lot of things he's been getting pretty annoyed with us sticking our noses in his business. Also you _live_ in Metropolis, you used to _live_ in Smallville, but Star City is Oliver's home. It's where his parent's house is, the last place they all lived together before they died, the place he grew up, the place he wants his kids to grow up and he wanted to share that with you." Bart sat down. "The place hadn't been lived in for years, it was practically uninhabitable but he's been working his crew day and night to get it ready, for you."

"I didn't know." Chloe said suddenly choked up.

"Plus, Star City has got a beach." Bart smirked at her trying to ease the tension and it worked if her small smile was anything to go by. "So I know you've been a bit busy lately but have you had time to think about…"

"You aren't getting a motorcycle." Chloe actually laughed this time and Bart groaned. "Why do you need one anyway? You can run faster than any bike can drive."

"It's not about the speed." Bart said and Chloe shot him an unconvinced look. "Ok, it's a little about the speed, but it's more about the power."

"Doesn't matter what it's about, there's no way Oliver's going go for it." Chloe said.

"Why not?"

"You wrecked his bike, his baby. You totaled it." Chloe reminded him. "He let you drive it once, once, and you brought it back in twenty five pieces."

"That was two years ago." Bart argued. "I'm so much more mature now."

"So much more mature?" Chloe snorted at him. "You put a whoppie cushion under Victor's chair like three days ago." Bart laughed at the memory and Chloe rolled her eyes. "Case in point."

Bart was about to protest again when he looked over Chloe's head and saw the clock on the wall. "Oh lunch time. I'm off to Chile, there's this little stand in plaza in Santiago that makes the best tamales I've ever eaten. You want?"

"No thanks." Chloe shook her head, pulled out her phone and dialed Oliver's number, this time hitting send.

****************

"He still hasn't called back?" Lois asked as Chloe and her phone were once again locked in an epic battle of staring.

"No." Chloe shook her head. Oliver didn't answer his phone when she called two days ago and since then she'd left him multiple messages but so far he hadn't felt the need to return any of them. She hadn't heard from him in almost a week, no phone calls, no text messages, no e-mails, nothing. Lois' phone went off and Chloe turned to her raising an eyebrow. "You're still not answering Clark's calls?"

Lois was having the opposite problem of Chloe. She had a boyfriend who wouldn't stop calling. "He lied to me for five years." Lois said pointedly. "Which you also did and the only reason I forgave you was because technically it wasn't your secret to tell."

"Lois, it's not really something that comes up in everyday conversation." Chloe pointed out.

"Ok, but you think that at some point before allowing me to become invested in this relationship he might have mentioned the fact that he was an alien from outer space with super powers." Lois said.

"Yeah but he's always been an alien from outer space with super powers." Chloe reminded him. "He hasn't suddenly become a different person."

"Yes he has." Lois said. "He's become a liar." And that was it, discussion over. Chloe knew that eventually Lois would be worn down, that Clark would do something completely and totally Clark like and win her heart all over again and they'd be ok. She just wished she was as sure about her and Oliver. "Come on." Lois grabbed Chloe's arm. "We aren't going to sit in here and mope all night long."

"What if Oliver calls back?" Chloe asked.

"Then he can leave a message." Lois said. "Yes what he did was sweet and maybe you could have been a bit more sensitive about the whole situation but the fact of the matter is he could have mentioned the whole moving into his parent's home thing."

"But…" Chloe protested.

"No buts." Lois said then sighed. "You can take your cell phone but you're getting out of this apartment."

"Where are we going?" Chloe allowed herself to be dragged down the hall of her apartment building not really caring. She looked around the stark industrial walls, saw the doors of the neighbors that she never bothered to meet and felt another pang of loss. Bart was right. She lived in Metropolis but it wasn't her home. She was a city girl at heart but she didn't want her kids growing up there. She wanted a house, she wanted memories, she wanted Oliver and if she had to move to Star City to get him then that's what she would do. She'd tell him that too, if only he would call her.

****************

Chloe frowned as the opening strains to California Girls by the Beach Boys started up. "Lois, have you noticed anything strange about tonight?" Lois had dragged her to karaoke night at their favorite bar, an experience that never failed to raise Chloe's spirit and put her in a good mood.

"Besides all of the really bad vocals? Nothing out of the ordinary." Lois shook her head.

"You haven't noticed a theme or anything?" Chloe leaned back in her chair thinking about all of the people that had gotten up and sung that night. "It's weird but since I've been here, I've heard, California by Phantom Planet, California by Lenny Kravitz, Hotel California, Meet me in California, It Never Rains in Southern California, and now California Girls."

"Really?" Lois smirked as the song ended.

"Yeah." Chloe laughed.

"That is weird." Lois said as the MC called her name. "Oh, I'm up."

She walked up to stage, gave the DJ her song choice then Lois smiled and turned to Chloe. "This song goes out to my cousin." She raised her eyebrows and California Dreaming by the Mama's and the Papa's started to play.

"Hey Sidekick." Oliver slipped into the seat next to her and smiled, grabbing her beer bottle and taking a sip.

"What are you doing here?" Chloe turned suddenly, her whole world thrown off kilter at his sudden arrival. "I've been calling you."

"I know." He smirked. "Good song, not so good a voice, wow has she always been that bad?"

"Oliver. We had a fight and we haven't spoken in almost a week and now you're here? Why are you here?" She asked.

"Because I realized I've gone about this whole thing in the wrong way." Oliver said.

"Is that so?" Chloe asked him then looked around the room at all the people who had sung. "This whole California song theme, your idea?" Oliver nodded. "And Lois was in on it?"

"Lois helped come up with it." Oliver took another sip of Chloe's beer.

"I'm gonna kill her." Chloe shook her head as Lois finished the song.

"Now calm down. I know that uprooting your life and your business and moving across the country is a really big decision and I shouldn't have expected you to just jump in no questions asked."

"So what's with all the songs about California?" Chloe smiled.

"You asked Bart what was so great about California." Oliver smiled. "We just wanted to show you how awesome California is. Just look at how many songs there are about it. Any songs written about Metropolis?"

"No." Chloe said.

"Huh." Oliver shook his head. "How about Smallville?"

"Oliver, this was really cute, I get it…" Chloe trailed off as she saw a few familiar faces climb up to the stage. "What…" She turned to Oliver who simply smiled at her.

"I just wanted to say that, for the record, this was not my idea." Victor said as the music started up.

"It was mine." Bart bragged and it took a moment for Chloe to realize what song was playing. Then AC started to sing, not really sing so much as…rap, to California Love by 2pac and Dr. Dre. _  
_

"You've got to be kidding me." Chloe hid her face in her hands and Oliver pulled her fingers away.

"They've been working on this all week." Oliver said. "You can at least do them the courtesy of watching it."

"Don't worry I've got my video camera." Lois said from beside her. "Pete's taping the whole thing for us." She nodded back at the bartender who was holding a camera up in the back of the crowd.

"Great." Chloe said as Victor took over for the first verse. She laughed and cheered along with the rest of the bar as he did his part. As much as he protested at the beginning that it wasn't his idea, he really threw himself into the song and the crowd went wild. It didn't hurt either when Dinah got up on stage and started "shaking it" for them. Then Bart slid to the front of the stage to take over for the second verse, and dominated the song, making the bar go absolutely crazy.

By the end of the song, the entire place was on their feet dancing and singing along. Bart, Victor, AC, and Dinah all took their bows and Chloe whistled louder than everyone else in appreciation. "Ok, I give up." Chloe turned to Oliver. "California is pretty cool."

"It is." Oliver agreed with her. "But that's not the point. I want you by my side, in life, in business and if I have to I'll pack up Queen Industries and Star Labs and move it all out here just to be with you."

"No." Chloe shook her head. "I can do what I do from anywhere. My life is in Metropolis but your home is in Star City." Oliver smiled at her. "I want to be a part of that home. I want to share those memories with you. I want to make new memories with you there. I want our kids to grow up where you grew up."

"I did turn out pretty good huh?" He asked. Chloe shook her head at him as another song started up, one that she didn't recognize. She paused and turned to find, not another karaoke singer, but a guy with a guitar. "I myself am not musically inclined so I asked a friend to write this for me." Oliver shrugged and Chloe turned paying more attention to the song.

_Nothing here is right_

_Guess I'll shut my eyes_

_Come to California 'cause I've been lonely for you_

_We can stay up all night just to watch the sunrise_

_Come to California_

_Nothing's right without you and even in the daylight_

_Well I can't see the sky_

Chloe looked over at Oliver and suddenly wondered why she hadn't simply just jumped at the chance and shown up on his doorstep with her bags packed the second he asked her to move. He'd gone through all the trouble of fixing up his parents house, orchestrated this whole evening and even commissioned a song to be written just for her. He really was amazing and she almost kicked herself for taking so long to realize it.

"You know Bart forgot one thing." Chloe told him.

"What's that?" Oliver asked.

"California has you." She smiled. "You really are better at this whole relationship thing than I am aren't you?" Chloe reached up and kissed him as passionately as she could hoping to convey to him as much emotion as possible. Without saying a word she grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the bar and into the street. She stopped a cab and he watched her in confusion as she pulled him into it. "Metropolis International." Chloe told the driver.

"The airport?" Oliver asked confused.

"Let's go home." She said leaning her head against his shoulder. "Unfortunately now you're going to have to buy Bart that bike." Oliver groaned. "Hey, he had a really big part to play in this whole thing here."

"So you think Honda, Yamaha, Ducati?" Oliver asked.

"Possibly all three." Chloe joked.

**Present Day**

Mia smiled at this small insight into Chloe's life, another part of her, a piece of the puzzle that would hopefully allow Mia to figure out how to, as Bart put it, fix her. _Speak of the Devil and he will appear_ Mia thought as not five minutes after he'd left, Bart walked back into the room and tossed something on the table in front of them.

Mia heard the clank and craned her neck forward to watch the object spin and spin until it finally settled and fell still. It took her a minute to process what she was looking at and then she realized, she found herself staring at a large stainless steel bolt nut, threaded through a very thin, broken silver chain. She turned immediately to Bart, as did everyone else who recognized it as Oliver's necklace, the one he never took off. "How did you…" She reached forward then stopped herself, knowing she should glove up, knowing she should call in a CSU team to log it properly into evidence, instead she grabbed it up and clutched it in her hands as if it held all the answers.

"You might want to send some black and whites out to Highway 34, about ten miles past the city limits." Bart said annoyed and slightly superior. "I found his car. You'll probably need a wrecker."

"An accident?" Clark asked confused.

"The car was completely totaled." Bart told him. "Looks like it may have flipped a few times."

"Oliver?" Lois stood up shakily, her knees felt like Jello.

"He wasn't there." Bart's features softened slightly and Lois collapsed in relief. "But, there was a lot of blood." He turned and was gone again.

Mia swallowed and walked out of the room. She wasn't sure how, in five minutes, he'd managed to do what an entire police force had been unable to do in five hours. But she didn't care. She dispatched a few units to where Bart told her and then took a second by herself to collect her thoughts, to sort through what she knew.

She knew now that there had been an accident, a pretty horrific one by Bart's description, one that Chloe had been lucky to walk away from. She knew that there was more to this than just the car accident too. Based on the bolt nut Bart had found, and what she knew about Oliver, that he'd never willingly leave Chloe, she also knew that it was entirely likely that some else had been at that accident site. That someone had likely caused that accident, taken Oliver from the scene and left Chloe to die.

"What now?" Lois asked from behind her and Mia jumped slightly in surprise. She turned to find everyone staring at her, looking to her for answers. Even Mason, the barista. Their sad, lost eyes, boring into her, needing her to tell them what to do.

Mia didn't want to tell Lois that she was flying just as blind here as Lois was. She didn't want to admit that her brain would probably be able to work out a plan of action faster if she could just get a few hours sleep, a few minutes even. She didn't want to say that at this very moment she felt like she was way in over her head, that she didn't know what she was doing, and she was scared that she was drowning and taking Chloe with her.

She didn't say any of that though. Instead she set her jaw, took a deep breath and stared right back. "We're running out of time, so we're going to go in there and we're going to figure this out."

"But she's not talking, she not doing anything." Lois pointed out. "Do we say anything about the accident?"

"No." Mia shook her head. "We need her to remember the accident on her own."

"And how do we do that?" Clark asked.

She'd run out of being strong, she'd run out of answers, and she was just too damn tired for the false bravado. "I have no idea." She slipped the bolt nut into her pocket and opened the door hoping the answer would come to her before it was too late.

********

Note: The song that Oliver had written for Chloe is actually a very lovely song called: "Come to California" by Ron Pope. Check it out.


	4. Chapter 4

Mia rubbed her neck and leaned against the wall in the hallway. Everyone else was in the notification room, trying anything and everything they could think of to get through to Chloe. They were telling stories, they were whispering secrets and they were drinking copious amounts of coffee but so far nothing had worked and Mia was worried that they were running out of time. Her head lifted at the third unfamiliar face that passed and she realized that she must have worked straight through to another shift change. Mia smiled and remembered from her beat cop days that shift change meant fresh donuts. She walked into the squad room and stared at the cornucopia of pastries laid out in front of her.

There were glazed donuts, cake donuts, strawberry and crème filled donuts. Crullers and Boston Kreme and chocolate with sprinkles. There was even an assortment of Cinnamon rolls, Apple fitters and muffins of all flavors. Her hand hovered over the chocolate with sprinkles and her teeth hurt preemptively just from the thought of all the sugar. She turned to the Boston Kreme and cringed at the hour it would take on the elliptical to work it off. She glared at each of the donuts in turn before she sighed in resignation and reached into the bag next to the sweets, pulling out a croissant.

"You don't want that." Wise came up behind her, grabbed the croissant out of her hands, and dropped it back in the bag.

"I don't?" Mia turned around surprised.

"No, you're not a croissant person." Wise sat down.

"I'm not?" Mia smiled, amused.

"Nope. I've been a cop for forty years I know donuts and I know people and you're not a croissant person." Wise smirked.

Mia sat down next to him and leaned her chin on her hands. "So what kind of person am I?"

"Let's see, glazed is not for you." Wise shook his head. "Sure they're classic, but they've got no real substance. Too much air, not enough dough. Kind of like James Bond."

"James Bond has too much air?" Mia smiled.

"He drinks Martini's right?" Wise asked and she nodded. "A pretty classic drink wouldn't you say? But it's the way he orders it. Shaken not stirred, all that does is break up the ice into tiny pieces, which then melt in the gin and then you've got a watered down Martini."

"Too much air." Mia nodded.

"Exactly." Wise said.

"Cake donut?" Mia reached forward and Wise stilled her arm.

"Nah, too much substance, not enough taste, like a philosophy text. Thick, really hard to get all the way through, and you're often left confused and unsatisfied." He smiled and Mia actually laughed, moving her hand over to the strawberry filled. "For six year olds at a tea party." Boston Kreme. "Poor excuse for an éclair." Apple Fritter. "Not even a proper donut."

Mia smiled and grabbed at the side, picking up a blueberry muffin and tossing it in the air. "Muffin's then? Can't say anything bad about a muffin." Wise reached out and grabbed it from the air.

"Muffin's are for people who don't have the balls to eat cake for breakfast." Wise informed her setting it back on the table. He scrutinized the selection before reaching in the back and picking up a donut. He studied it for a second before passing it over.

"A cruller?" Mia asked skeptically.

"A chocolate covered cruller." Wise corrected her.

"Isn't this just a fancy cake donut?" Mia tore it in half and studied at it.

"Sort of." Wise grabbed one for himself and smiled. "But, the twists make it lighter, less dense, and the chocolate adds flavor. Trust me." He took a bite of his and Mia followed suit.

She closed her eyes and hummed, actually hummed in appreciation as she chewed. "Oh God." She smiled up at Wise. "I haven't had one of these since I was a kid." She took another bite and he shrugged, rather pleased with himself. She finished the whole donut quickly and sheepishly reached for another. "So this means I'm a cruller person." Mia said. "I never really saw myself as a cruller person."

"No, this means right now, you want a cruller." He told her. "No one has _one_ donut, your preferences change with your mood."

"Interesting." Mia said.

"Just call me the donut whisperer." He smiled and she laughed unable to stop herself.

Her smile faded when Detective Love and Detective Marino walked in her line of vision, deep in conversation with each other. "Wise, how well do you know Love?" She picked at the donut, her appetite suddenly not so strong.

"Not very. He's been here for years." Wise admitted, passing Mia a napkin. "I may have logged in evidence for him a few times, transferred over a phone call." He shrugged. "Detectives don't really fraternize with the desk sergeants. Marino's new though, transfer from San Francisco. Why do you want to know?"

"No reason." Mia stood up, a pile of crumbs that used to be a cruller on the table in front of her and she started to leave before stopping herself, something in her gut making her turn back around. When she did Love was staring at her and she couldn't help but physically shiver. "Could you get me his file?" Mia asked, not taking her eyes off of the detective.

"Sure." Wise nodded and stood up, heading for the file room.

"Hey, Wise." Mia called out. "Be discreet." He nodded and she held out a hand stopping him again. "What's wrong with croissants?"

"Well they're just too…French." Wise smirked and Mia laughed again.

She slipped back into the notification room quietly. Victor was sitting next to Chloe on the couch holding her hand while Clark whispered something in her other ear. There was nothing, absolutely nothing showing on Chloe's face, no acknowledgement of Victor holding her hand, no sign that she could even hear what Clark was telling her, nothing. Mia groaned and walked over to Lois. "Anything?"

"She asked for more coffee about twenty minutes ago but nothing since." Lois rubbed her neck.

"Alright I need to know more about her, about her and Oliver. We need her to think about Oliver, we need her to want to think about Oliver. How did they get together? How did he ask her out?"

"He sort of didn't." Lois smiled.

"Well what did they do on their first date?" Mia pulled out a pad, ready to write down anything she thought was pertinent.

"That depends on who you ask." AC admitted.

**Six Years Ago**

Chloe stopped typing as a small breeze rustled her hair and tossed her bangs in her eyes which obscured her vision. She looked up into the smiling face of Bart Allen and couldn't help but smile herself. "Got your morning papers." Bart dropped a stack of newspapers on her desk.

"You know I could just get subscriptions like normal people." Chloe pulled the papers in front of her knowing she'd had this conversation before, she'd had this conversation many times before in fact but there was nothing to it. Every day without fail, since Chloe had taken that ear piece from Oliver and agreed to become Watchtower, Bart spent about five minutes each morning running from coast to coast to get Chloe her papers. She had everything from Metropolis' Daily Planet, the New York Times, Star City Gazette, to the London Daily Mail.

Every day she went through the papers for any sign of a story that could possibly lead to something Meta related. Oliver asked her once that since all the newspapers were available online, wouldn't it just be easier to have Victor create program that did that for her. She'd balked at him in a way that only Chloe really got away with, as if he'd just said the stupidest thing in the world and explained that some things were just too nuanced for a computer program to pick up on. The truth of the matter was simply that she was a purest.

As much as she loved her computer, a computer that cost Oliver more than Chloe's father's house, a computer that she spent months personally designing every aspect from the motherboard to the keyboard, nothing could ever compare to the feeling of that special newsprint paper. She liked that generally by ten o'clock her fingers were a lovely shade of black from flipping all the pages. She liked that distinctive fresh from the printing press smell that only newspapers had.

"What would I do for my after breakfast exercise?" Bart grabbed one half of the bagel that had been dressed with cream cheese and then left forgotten on the edge of Chloe's desk and took a bite of it.

She glared at him and pulled the other piece of bagel closer to her. "Well maybe if you didn't have your after breakfast exercise you wouldn't eat my breakfast every day." She pointed out.

"Sorry." Bart mumbled still managing to smile and Chloe was annoyed that she just couldn't stay mad at him.

Instead of yelling at him, which would do her no good, she chose to just roll her eyes and reached for the Daily Planet. Her hand hovered over the pile of the papers and frowned as something halfway down the stack caught her eye. "Why did you bring me The Inquisitor?"

"You made the cover." Bart swallowed. "Thought you'd want to see." He sat across the desk from her and leaned back.

Sure enough, just below a story about a vampire who operates a Laundromat in Edge City and above a sighting of Elvis in downtown Metropolis was a picture of Chloe at the street fair from the previous weekend. It was definitely not her best picture ever. She was wearing her rattiest pair of comfy jeans with an ancient hooded shirt. She had her hair pulled back in a loose ponytail, stray strands still too short to stay in the elastic were held up haphazardly with bobby pins in an attempt to keep them out of her face. She was slightly thankful that her sunglasses hid the fact that she didn't bother to put on makeup that day. Her right hand was holding her phone loosely at her side and her left was held tight by Oliver, also dressed casually in jeans and a t-shirt. He was pulling her toward something off camera but Chloe couldn't remember what exactly.

She could deal with the unflattering photo but the caption was what really caught her attention. **Queen and girlfriend slumming it at a street fair. **

"What the hell?" Chloe asked Bart.

"I know." Bart shook his head. "I don't think he's slumming it. I mean sure the man's in jeans and a t-shirt but they're still designer." Bart pointed out. "The t-shirt alone cost more than my last month's rent."

"You don't pay rent." Chloe said absentmindedly then glared at him. "That's not the point." She held up the paper and pointed to the headline. "I am not his girlfriend."

Bart raised his eyebrows at her and allowed a small smirk to appear on his face. "Are you sure about that?" He took the paper and flipped it open to page 4 where there were even more pictures. One of Chloe laughing as Oliver dropped a large cowboy hat on her head, another of Chloe offering him her bottle of water, and a third of him whispering something in her ear.

"This isn't…" Chloe stared at the paper. "We just went to the street fair. He was in town and asked me to do some JLA stuff and I said I wasn't working the whole weekend because I wanted to go to the street fair, he took me. We weren't on a date." Chloe protested.

"Come on Chloe, everyone knows now." Bart smirked. "It's not like this was even your first date."

"What does that mean?" Chloe asked him confused.

Bart smirked and then he was gone. Chloe studied the pictures in the Inquisitor more closely wondering how someone could have followed her around all day taking pictures without her even knowing. Suddenly a large stack of magazines were dropped on her desk. She looked up to see Bart smiling at her. "Go ahead." He nodded to the one on top.

Insider, a magazine that she'd vaguely remembered hearing of but had never actually read herself was on the top. It was in the same vein as Ok and US Weekly if she remembered correctly. Chloe scanned the cover but didn't see pictures of her or Oliver. It wasn't until she read the article headlines on the side that she saw it. There was a small caption near the bottom that read: **Is Oliver Queen off the market? Pictures inside**. Chloe immediately flipped to the page and stared at a scene that looked as if it had been ripped straight from her memory. "That wasn't a date." Chloe protested. "We didn't even go together, we just ran into each other."

About three months ago she'd been in Star City helping Oliver with something and he mentioned, in passing, that the park was having a Carey Grant retrospective and he'd remembered that she like Carey Grant. She decided to go, alone, but had ended up bumping into him. Halfway through the first film, Arsenic and Old Lace, she realized just how truly cold it could get at night in California. Oliver offered to share his blanket and his hot coffee with her and she accepted. So there it was a picture of Chloe and Oliver huddled together under his blanket as they watched Carey Grant and Katherine Hepburn wrangle a leopard in Bringing Up Baby.

"Plausible, but what about all the others?" Bart asked.

Chloe spent the better part of her morning, two hours, devouring gossip magazine after gossip magazine. She spent a few more hours after that scouring the many sites online that seemed to be dedicated to nothing except posting sightings of Chloe and Oliver, whether together or separate. There were pictures of her and Oliver grabbing coffee, her and Oliver walking in the park, her and Oliver eating dinner at various restaurants around Metropolis and Star City. All that she could write off in her own head as nothing more than just business meetings or two friends hanging out.

But perhaps the most damning piece of evidence were the hundreds of pictures of Oliver and Chloe dressed to the nines attending some society function last month. Oliver's date had canceled on him at the last minute and Dinah had said she didn't do evening gowns so Oliver followed Chloe around the JLA headquarters for three hours begging her to go with him until she agreed.

"_Let's go over the rules again." Oliver got off the elevator and Chloe rolled her eyes._

"_You and your stupid rules." She said grabbing at her skirt so she didn't trip on it. It's not like she wanted to come to this stupid party, she was doing this as a favor to Oliver and what was she getting for her trouble? Treated like a two year old. Oliver glared at her and she closed her mouth dutifully and gave him her full attention. _

"_Rule number 1: This is not a job." Oliver told her. "We are not here to do re-con." Chloe groaned, she'd been trying to get Oliver to let her do some digging on Senator Jackson for a few months now and here she was right in his house, in the middle of a party, the perfect time and place to slip out and do some investigating. "No." Oliver said at the look on her face. "No probing questions, no stealing phones, or wallets." He said sternly. _

"_Fine." Chloe crossed her arms over her chest. _

"_Rule number 2." Oliver said. _

"_Seriously?" Chloe asked him annoyed._

_  
"Rule number 2." Oliver continued. "Whatever you feel about these people, I have to work with them, in most cases I need them to do my job, both of my jobs." Oliver said to her. "Please, be on your best behavior. You will smile, you will laugh at stories no matter how stupid or inane. You will be perfectly charming." _

"_Are you quite done?" Chloe sniffed at him. _

"_Yes." Oliver nodded._

"_I'll have you know I do know how to act in public. I realize that you have this image in your head of me being perpetually behind a computer screen but I'm not a hermit." She snapped at him. "Now if you'll excuse me, there is Congressman Rainer. Isn't he on the defense appropriations committee?" _

"_Chloe." Oliver called after her. "Seriously rule number 1." She smiled and walked up to a group of people and shook hands with the Congressman from California. "Chloe." He said catching up to her. "Rule number 1." He whispered in her ear._

"_Oliver." She smiled. "I'd like to introduce you to Congressman Rainer. We met last year at the Global Earth Seminar. Remember I was there covering it for the Daily Planet." Chloe said. _

"_I remember you being sent there to do an op-ed piece and coming home with a conspiracy theory about misplaced appropriations earmarked for the Going Green campaign actually being used as kick backs for large Oil contracts." _

"_And I was right." Chloe pointed out. _

"_I was so entranced by Ms. Sullivan's persistence in her pursuit for the truth that I enlisted her help investigating a charity organization that I had started. Money was going missing and no one could find it." Congressman Rainer said._

"_Really?" He smiled at Chloe._

"_There's more to me than you know Oliver Queen." Chloe smiled._

"_I see that." He said. "So how did it go?"_

"_What?" Chloe asked confused._

"_The investigation." He said. "The charity thing."_

"_Oh my financial advisor was embezzling." The Congressman said. "Millions of dollars to an off shore account. Ms. Sullivan traced them through the Caymans into a fruit crop plantation and back to DC through a bunch of small produce suppliers." _

"_Wow." Oliver said impressed. "Nice work Woodward." _

_Chloe laughed. "If you'll excuse us Congressman. Senator Kent just walked in and I have no doubt that she will tattle to my father if I don't at least say hello to her." _

"_Of course, lovely to see you again dear." He smiled as they walked away._

"_Was that charming enough for you?" Chloe asked him smugly._

"_You made your point." Oliver laughed._

"_Ms. Kent." Chloe said kissing her cheek. "How's it going?" _

"_Fine." Martha said. "Oliver I didn't know you'd be here and with Chloe no less." _

"_I was just looking for an excuse to get her into a ball gown." Oliver joked. _

"_Well I've tried wearing them around the house while I do my chores but have you ever washed dishes in an evening gown?" Chloe shook her head. "Glitter everywhere." _

"_This is pick on Oliver night." He smiled. "Ok – I get it." He grabbed a drink. "I'm going to talk to people who find me interesting and witty and dare I say attractive." _

"_I think I've hurt his feelings." Chloe smiled. "Go schmooze. Fetch me when you need arm candy." She shoved him away and he moved off to talk to a few friends._

"_I didn't know that you and Oliver were...." Martha said. _

"_Friends." Chloe said her eyes wide. _

_  
"He's a very nice boy." Martha mentioned._

"_He hasn't been a boy in a long time." Chloe said without realizing it._

"_Chloe!" Martha said shocked._

"_What?" She asked then realized what it sounded like. "No I didn't mean…it's not like…we never."_

"_Chloe." Martha laughed. "You're a grown woman and I'm not your mother. What you do is none of my business." _

"_Right." She said. "But we haven't, we don't, we aren't you know – just so you know." Chloe said._

"_Talking about me?" Oliver asked when he walked back up. Martha let out a small laugh and Chloe blushed bright red. He paused. "You were talking about me." He said a little more cautiously now. "It was nice to see you again Ms. Kent but at the moment I have to school Chloe here in the fine art of having fun at a party." _

"_Unless you're planning on sneaking into the Senator's office and going through his files, I think that'll be a hard lesson for her to learn." Martha laughed._

_Chloe looked up at Oliver hopefully. "No we aren't going to break into the Senator's office and go through his files." He said exasperated. "We are going to mingle and then we'll dance some and then we'll mingle some more. It'll be fun, I promise." _

"_Fun my ass." Chloe mumbled as they walked away from a laughing Martha Kent. _

_She did end up having fun, they dance, she schmoozed, she was perfectly charming and all of Oliver's business associates fell in love with her. "I had fun." Chloe said walking, almost dancing down the alley behind the Talon as Oliver walked her home. "Surprisingly."_

"_You're surprised you had fun with me?" Oliver took her hand and spun her around._

"_Surprised I had fun at such a stuffy party." Chloe said._

"_Well it doesn't hurt that I was there with you." Oliver pointed out._

"_That helped out a lot." Chloe patted his arm, patronizingly. _

"_So have I finally earned that goodnight kiss?" He asked joking._

"_You're still on that after two years?" Chloe laughed and dug out her keys._

"_Of course I'm still on that." Oliver said. _

"_It wasn't even a real date, you were just trying to show me all men weren't scumbags." Chloe reminded him. After the disaster that was Chloe and Jimmy finally ended for good and Chloe put herself back out there into the real world, she had a string of the most horrible dates in the history of dating. She'd stormed into his office after a particularly bad date and declared that she was done with men, was throwing herself into her work and would Oliver please give her something to do. Instead he'd taken her out, shown her that it was still possible to have fun with a guy and restored her faith in dating again._

"_Yeah, I took you on a date. It might not have been a real date but it was a good date. I took you out to eat. We went dancing, and then we had a very memorable time on the way home. I think it deserved a goodnight kiss." He pointed out. _

"_Ok, stopping so that you could break up a mugging while I sat in the car is not a memorable time." Chloe said._

"_You remember it. After all that, being told that I hadn't earned a goodnight kiss." He clicked his tongue at her. "What more could I have done?" _

"_I'm not that easy." She pointed out unlocking the door. "I'm a hard girl to impress." _

"_Billions of dollars. Head of a major international company, defender of the weak and abused. What more is there?" He asked._

"_I'm not sure." Chloe smiled sheepishly. "When you figure it out, surprise me. You could maybe start with a little modesty." She said before disappearing inside._

_Oliver laughed as she closed the door. She had just made it in the apartment when her phone rang and Oliver's name showed up on the screen. "Hello." Chloe said pulling back the blinds of her living room window to find Oliver staring up at her from the alley below. _

"_What are you doing tomorrow night?" He asked._

"_Laundry most likely." She said._

"_Wow, that sounds exciting, never mind then." He turned to walk away._

"_Wait." She said and he stopped and turned around. "Never mind what?"_

_Oliver smiled. "I have to go to this thing, business diner. There terribly boring and ridiculously long. Go with me." He said. _

"_Wow, that's a flattering proposal but laundry sounds very tempting." She turned from the window._

"_Ok, ok." Oliver said. "Chloe would you do me the honor of attending a diner with me tomorrow night." _

"_I guess I don't have anything better to do." She shrugged and closed the shades._

"_Oh that hurts Sullivan." Oliver said turning back to his car. _

"_Spare me Queen." She laughed and hung up the phone._

She broke out of her memory looked up at Bart who seemed to be enjoying her distress far more than she thought he should be and glared. Looking back on that night on top of all the evidence laid out in front of her, it really seemed like a date. "I'm going to fix this." She grabbed the phone dialing the number for the Inquisitor. "Just you watch." She said with more confidence than she felt.

*************

Fifteen phone calls later she was even more upset if that were possible. Bart had disappeared after phone call number two and it wasn't until Lois walked into the office that Chloe realized it was lunchtime and she hadn't gotten anything done all day. "No, I don't have a quote, I have a complaint." Chloe paced back and forth in front of her desk. Lois looked at her confused and Chloe held up a hand so she sat down and waited. "I have no idea if Oliver wears boxers or briefs."

"Boxers." Lois said absentmindedly and Chloe stopped and turned to her. "What?" Lois smiled but Chloe ignored her.

"So you're not going to print a retraction? Great, fine, no you haven't heard the last of me." Chloe violently pushed the off button and quietly lamented the rise of cordless phones. Sometimes there was nothing more satisfying than slamming a phone down in anger.

"What retraction are you trying to get printed?" Lois asked confused eyeing the stack of magazines open on Chloe's desk.

"They think we're dating." Chloe tossed one of the ones which had a set of pictures of Chloe and Oliver at a Metropolis Sharks game at Lois. "They won't print a retraction, they won't stop posting the pictures and now they probably going to have a lead story about how Oliver and I are waiting until marriage to have sex because I just said I didn't know if he wore boxers or briefs."

"Are you?" Lois frowned.

"Am I what?" Chloe flopped into her desk chair annoyed and exhausted.

"Waiting until marriage?" Lois tossed the magazine in the trash. "I mean you'd think after three months you would have at least gotten to third base."

"Lois!" Chloe sat up straight in the chair. "Oliver and I are not dating."

"It's fine Chloe, really." Lois said. "I mean I know you guys haven't exactly made an official announcement, I'm not blind. In fact I'm one of the top investigative reporters in the world. I have a little certificate from the people at Pulitzer to prove it. I know ok. Now hurry up, we're going to be late for lunch."

"Lois there is nothing to know." Chloe said exasperated, unable to believe that even her cousin didn't believe her. "We're not dating."

"Look, you and Clark have more of a history than me and Oliver and you were totally cool when we started dating. Oliver and I were together a long time ago and really, you couldn't exactly call what we had a relationship. He was gone all the time and when he was actually in town he was constantly disappearing on me. I couldn't handle the whole superhero thing anyway. You guys are good together; I give you my blessing or whatever."

"You're blessing?" Chloe was desperately trying to regain control of this conversation.

"Yes, I'm ok with it, more than ok with it. So I'm good, you're good, we're all good. Now seriously I skipped breakfast this morning." Lois stood up, hoping that Chloe would start moving toward the door and they would be that much closer to food.

"Ok, no I'm going to fix this." Chloe shook her head. She grabbed her bag, gathered up all the magazines and stormed out of the building leaving Lois standing in the middle of the office annoyed.

"So does this mean we aren't having lunch?" Lois called after her.

****************

"Miss Sullivan he's on the phone, if you could just wait one minute I'll see if he has time for you." Janice said.

"Oh he'll make time for me." Chloe said, she thought that the walk over to the Clock Tower would calm her down a bit but if anything it just made her even more upset. She had a fleeting thought that it might have been better had Oliver been working in Star City that week because possibly a three hour plane ride would have calmed her.

"I'm going to have to call you back Senator Martin." Oliver hung up the phone and was staring at the door waiting when Chloe pushed her way in the office.

"Chloe!" He smiled his biggest and best smile in an attempt to disarm and beguile her. She wasn't fazed, stalking to his desk and slamming the armful of magazines and newspapers down.

"Don't you 'Chloe' me." She said, her tone indicating that it was entirely possible his dimples weren't going to get him out of this one. "Do you want to explain this?" She nodded to the magazines.

"Uh…" Oliver looked down and idly flipped through the papers. "You're choice in reading material has seriously declined." He smiled at the tabloids.

"Don't even think about getting cute with me." Chloe shook her head. "It's not going to work."

"Sorry, but I'm not sure it's possible for me to stop being cute, and it always works." Oliver breathed a sigh of relief when that earned him a somewhat strained smile. She shook her head and fell slightly exhausted into the chair across from his desk. "Seriously what's this about?"

"It's about the fact that the entire world seems to believe that the two of us are dating."

"Dating whom?" Oliver grabbed the top magazine.

"Dating each other." Chloe elaborated.

"Oh." Oliver smiled and stood up walking to the kitchen area and grabbing two bottles of water from his fridge.

"Oh?" Chloe glared as he handed her a bottle. "Oh? That's all you have to say on the matter. I've been-" She stopped when she heard the elevator doors slam open. They both turned to see Bart, Dinah, AC, and Victor smiling sheepishly from inside.

Oliver raised his eyebrows and Bart smiled. "She's still relatively calm. We didn't miss it." He motioned the others to follow him inside.

"Miss what?" Chloe asked Oliver who simply shrugged in confusion. She shook her head and went back to the task at hand. "I've been on the phone with every editor in town, all day long, trying to get retractions printed. I've tried to tell them that it was all a big misunderstanding and I've gotten exactly nowhere. In fact I may have made it worse with a comment on my lack of knowledge of your underwear preferences."

"Boxers." He smiled and then stopped at the look on her face. "Ok." Oliver sat back down behind his desk. "So what do you want me to do?"

"I want you to use that billionaire magic of yours that opens all the doors for you to get them to stop. I don't know, don't you have an entire PR department just to deal with stuff like this? I mean seriously they should have been on top of this month's ago." Chloe opened her bottle of water and took a sip. "Tell them to stop writing the stories, stop printing the pictures, hell tell them to stop taking the pictures. Please."

Oliver seemed to debate her request for a minute then shook his head. "Sorry, I can't do it."

"What?" Chloe asked incredulous. "Why not?"

"Because I really don't like lying to the press. Eventually they uncover the truth and then they never trust you again and it's actually beneficial to have a few reporters on your side." Oliver explained.

"What lie would you be telling them?" Chloe asked.

"That we aren't dating." Oliver said simply.

"But we aren't dating." Chloe stood up and spoke slowly, making sure to enunciate each syllable.

"Oh." Oliver got up and walked around to stand in front of her. "Sometimes you're just so cute." He kissed her forehead.

"What?" Chloe frowned at him. "You don't think…I mean we aren't dating Oliver."

"Actually." He smiled. "We are."

"We are?" Chloe sighed. "Did you hit your head the last time we went out?"

"I'm perfectly healthy." Oliver assured her.

"Really?" Chloe sighed. "What you are is unbelievable. Don't you think I'd know if we were dating?"

"Actually no." Oliver shook his head. "I thought it would be best if I eased you into the whole thing."

"By not telling me we were dating?" Chloe frowned.

"I'll admit that the plan had its flaws." Oliver said. "In retrospect, maybe I should have laid a few more hints."

"Ok, we're not dating just because you say we're dating, that's not how it works Oliver." Chloe shook her head. "You do realize that I have a say in the matter."

"You really don't." Oliver shook his head. "See that's why I didn't tell you. Because you would have had oh…three hundred or so bogus excuses why we couldn't date, like because I used to date Lois or because we work together. Then you would have debated it and stressed over it for possibly years. I just figured I could bypass all that stuff and get right to the good part."

"You…" Chloe pursed her lips. "People don't…" She set her bottle of water down. "I mean you can't just…" Chloe stood up and started pacing. "It doesn't matter how much money you have or power, or the fact that you can hit a target from over 10,000 feet…"

"I'm almost at 11,000." He smiled. "I've been practicing."

"Or that you were voted most eligible bachelor like for the past five years in a row." Chloe said losing some steam. "Or that you get this cute little twitch in the corner of your mouth when you're trying hard not to laugh." She smiled "Or that you…" She trailed off and if Oliver wasn't so sure that he would get smacked in the head for saying it, he would have described her look as dreamy.

"Chloe?" Oliver asked waving a hand in front of her face when she didn't say anything else. She seemed to come back to reality and smacked his hand away frowning. "Were you planning on finishing that sentence at some point?" He laughed.

"Yes." Her face went from dreamy to annoyed in about two seconds. "The point is all of those things don't give you the right to just start dating someone and not tell them about it. I mean where do you get off exactly? How arrogant do you have to be to do something like this? What in our almost five year relationship would make you believe that I would be ok with something like this?" She started pacing again.

"Have I not been a good boyfriend?" Oliver asked worried.

"You're not my boyfriend." Chloe threw her arms up in exasperation. The hurt look on Oliver's face made her stop and really think about it. If they had been dating, if that's really what they were doing these past few months then truth be told, he'd been a great boyfriend. He'd called her every day, twice when he wasn't in town, just to see how she was doing, to hear her voice. When he was in town they went to lunch practically every day, diner almost every night. He brought her coffee, he sent her flowers. Chloe's whole body went rigid when she finally realized that they were in fact dating, and he'd been a much better boyfriend than she'd been a girlfriend, granted she had no idea she was supposed to be a girlfriend. Her disbelief turned to anger and she glared at Oliver.

"You know what the most annoying thing about this is? The fact that you just assume that I want to date you." She moved closer to him and emphasized her point by poking him in the chest. "Maybe I don't, maybe I don't like you that way. Did your enormous ego ever think of that?" Poke. "Maybe I don't even find you remotely attractive." Poke. "Maybe we have no physical chemistry." Poke. "Maybe-" She didn't' get to finish that thought because Oliver grabbed her wrist before she could poke him again and pulled her flush up against his chest.

Chloe swallowed hard, her thoughts so jumbled around in her head at Oliver's close proximity that she wasn't sure she'd be able to tell him her own name if he asked. "Maybe-" She tried again but he was smiling down at her and the feel of his hard body against hers erased every intelligent thought in her head.

"Maybe you should stop thinking so much." Oliver whispered, his lips a breath away from hers. "Did you ever think of that?"

"I…" Chloe choked on the words when Oliver's lips met hers. Her anger dissolved quickly with the combination of one of his hands on the small of her back, his other hand running through her hair, and his tongue softly sliding across her bottom lip.

"So not how I thought this was going to end." Bart frowned.

"Slightly disappointed?" Dinah smirked.

"I've been waiting for this to blow up in his face for weeks now." Bart nodded at where Chloe was finally giving in to Oliver, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him closer. "I mean if I pulled what he pulled, I'd be singing soprano right now but dudes untouchable."

They watched as Chloe seemed to melt against Oliver. She pulled back and smiled at him. "So you do realize that you're going to have to do the whole first date thing over again. Seeing as how I missed it the first time around."

"Nope." Oliver shook his head. "It's not my fault if you were too self involved to see what was happening right in front of your face."

"Is that how you think this is going to play out? You in charge, me with absolutely no say?" Chloe asked him. "Really?"

"It's been working for me so far." Oliver smirked. "Look, neither one of us is even going to pretend that I'm in charge of the team, my own team, the team I put together."

"True." Chloe smiled, she'd basically taken over as chief of operations where the JLA was concerned.

"So you've got to give me something." Oliver said. "Either I'm in charge of this relationship or I'm in charge of the team. You choose."

Chloe thought very hard. "You've been doing a pretty damn good job with the relationship thing so far."

"It helps that you didn't know anything about it." Oliver pointed out.

"True." Chloe smiled. "And as long as I've been in charge of the team, no one's been captured or blown up."

"Also true." Oliver nodded.

"You aren't seriously considering this are you?" Dinah chimed in in disbelief. "Never in the history of ever has a woman willingly given up control over a relationship."

"Maybe that's why they're always so overly complicated." Chloe offered. "I like this idea. It'll be like our own little social experiment."

"Really?" Oliver sounded surprised.

"Really." Chloe nodded then smiled. "I think this is going to be good."

"I think you guys are freaking crazy." Victor shook his head and stood up. "Absolutely insane."

"Just you wait." Oliver smiled at them. "This is going to go fantastically."

"You think now's a good time to tell Oliver I wrecked his bike?" Bart whispered to AC.

**Present Day**

Mia smiled and looked over at Chloe who had turned away from Clark and focused all her attention on AC as the story unfolded. There was a soft sort of fond smile on her face as she tilted her head to the side. "Chloe?" Mia walked over and sat on the coffee table in front of her. Chloe turned and look at Mia, actually look at her. Everyone in the room held their breath and leaned forward, their bodies tense as Chloe opened her mouth to speak.

"Can I have another cup of coffee please?" She passed over her empty cup to Mia and everyone fell back in frustration, muscles relaxed and lowered their heads.

"This is ridiculous." Dinah pushed herself off the wall.

"Dinah." Victor snapped at her.

"No." Dinah snapped back. "I want to know how much more time we're going to waste here with her when we could be out there, like Bart looking for Oliver. You know doing our jobs."

"Our job is here, with Chloe." Victor said.

"Please." Dinah snorted and pointed angrily. "Bart was right, that, that is not Chloe. I have no idea who that is."

"Dinah, stop." Lois warned her.

"No, wait, I do know who that is, it's some pathetic shell of Chloe." Dinah turned around and stalked over to Chloe, towering over her, her anger palpable as she kept going. "This is some feeble watered down version of Chloe, all weak and helpless and she needs to snap the fuck out of it." Dinah reached forward suddenly, slapping Chloe across the face hard enough to send her head flying to the side.

**********

Chloe stared around the room, trying to make sense of everything. She vaguely had an idea where she was, had some understanding of the people that were around her but not a lot. She knew they were worried about her, could see it their faces but it didn't register, not really. Her brain felt like mush, it took her far too long to process even the simplest of thoughts. Her eyes were heavy and her vision clouded, like she was seeing everything through a mist. She couldn't hear much, just random words or sentences, even when people were talking directly to her, there was a muffled sort of buzzing in her ears as if they were filled with cotton balls. It didn't matter that she couldn't hear, because she could barely force herself to form words to answer any questions that they would have asked her.

Dinah was there, suddenly in front of her and Chloe wondered briefly how she'd missed that, how she'd missed her approaching. She was screaming, at least she looked like she was screaming, she was pissed. Chloe frowned, wondering what could have made the girl so angry when she slapped her, hard, sending her head flying to the side. It was so sudden, and surprising and most of all, it hurt.

Blinking through the sudden pain, the immediate pain, a feeling she hadn't felt in a while, Chloe watched as a drop of blood fell from her lip. It mesmerized her as it made its way heavy and red to the couch, standing out starkly against the cream colored fabric. She stared at it as it seeped into the cushion, absorbed into the material and spread. When the second droplet fell, joining with the first everything seemed to snap back into place suddenly.

The lights were all too bright and she blinked rapidly to get her eyes accustomed. Sounds slammed into her ear drums and she resisted the urge to stick her fingers in them until the deluge passed. It was like she'd been underwater and suddenly breached the surface.

"I can't believe you actually did that." Victor was seething as AC held Dinah's hands behind her back.

"Let me go." Lois was screaming to Clark who was holding her hands behind her back.

Chloe brought her arm up and swiped her bottom lip with the back of her hand, watching the blood smear across her skin. No one noticed as she turned and stood. No one noticed when she walked across the room. It wasn't until she was suddenly in front of them did everyone stop talking over each other. "Let her go." Chloe said sternly.

"Chloe." Victor stepped closer to her and she held up her hand to hold him off.

"Let her go." Chloe said again and AC dropped Dinah's arms.

Dinah rubbed her wrists and glared at Chloe. "I'm not going to apologize."

Chloe's fingers clenched at her sides. No one saw her fist coming until it connected with Dinah's nose. "You need to remember who you're talking to." The force of the blow spun Dinah around and she managed to trip over her own feet. She threw her arms out instinctively and caught herself on the edge of the table an inch before her nose connected with the wood.

"I know exactly who I'm talking to." Dinah panted, twisting her body and shooting her leg out, catching Chloe in the side unexpectedly. Her hip slammed into the corner of the chair, sliding it and Chloe across the floor. Clark, Victor, AC and Lois all moved forward to intercede and Chloe shot out her hand once more to keep them at bay. "I'm talking to a whiny little bitch girl." Dinah said. "Do you need some tissue? Baby gonna cry again?"

Mia watched enthralled as the two girls circled each other like lions on the plains. It looked ridiculous, Chloe in her already bloodied wedding dress and blood dripping from Dinah's now broken nose. Wise walked in the room, a file in his hands and almost dropped it at the spectacle. "Should I grab someone?" He asked as Dinah lashed out with her right arm. Chloe caught it quickly, twisting it around so Dinah was forced to bend over and then pulled Dinah closer.

"Not just yet." Mia whispered a hand on his arm. This was the only emotion Chloe had shown since she arrived and Mia was willing to risk letting this play out.

Chloe forced her knee up into Dinah's stomach, shoved her hand in the hair at the base of Dinah's neck and yanked her head up. Dinah reached back and grabbed Chloe's wrist, pulling it out of her hair and yanking it forward, flipping Chloe over her shoulder and throwing her into the ground. Dinah straddled her waist, pinning her in place and grabbing either side of her face, slamming Chloe's head into the floor.

Chloe blinked as the pain shot down her neck. "Is there a point to this?" Chloe asked her, teeth gritted.

The door opened beside Mia but when she turned no one was there. She frowned and looked back over at Chloe and Dinah only to see Bart pushing himself in between the two girls, grabbing Dinah by her waist and lifting her in the air. He walked a few steps away then dropped her to the ground. "What the hell is the matter with you?" Bart said, the anger turning his face red and Mia was glad that for once that anger wasn't directed at her. "I'm gone for an hour and you turn into third graders fighting on the playground."

Dinah pulled herself so that she was sitting, her back leaning up against the wall. "The point is that's not you." Dinah panted, trying to catch her breath. She turned to the side and spit out the blood that had made it's way into her mouth. "You're not that person. You're stronger than that, stronger than all this. You're the one that keeps us together, kept us together no matter what was thrown at us. You've picked us up, each one of us, and put us back together more times than I can count and I figured…" She turned to look at Chloe who was now leaning against the wall next to her, breathing just as heavily. "Maybe it's time I returned the favor."

Chloe scoffed. "You're not getting soft on me are you Canary?"

Dinah scoffed. "Please. You think I don't know who pays my bills." She closed her eyes and winced as something was placed against her nose. AC was trying to stop the flow of blood.

Chloe rolled her shoulders and shifted her legs, the fabric of her dress swishing quite annoyingly. She looked down and wrinkled her nose in distaste, running her hand along a dark red splotch of blood, mesmerized by the way that it seemed to highlight the pattern of the lace. It wasn't her blood, it was his, Oliver's. She closed her eyes and remembered.

"_Chloe, open your eyes, look at me." Oliver screamed, hands on either side of her face and her eyes shot open. He looked relieved, he looked scared, he looked…upside down._

"_Oliver?" Chloe asked, fear creeping into her voice when she realized that he wasn't upside down, she was the one upside down. She clutched onto the handle of the car door, her knuckles white. "Why am I upside down?" Her voice was shaking._

"_The car flipped a few times I think." He shook his head and reached around her, groping for the seatbelt. _

"_Taking liberties before the honeymoon?" Chloe laughed then coughed. "I thought you were a gentleman." _

"_I'm looking for the seatbelt." Oliver said. "To get you out of here, unless you want to stay upside down." _

_His hands fumbled again and that's when Chloe saw it, the blood rushing, flowing out of a cut on his scalp. "You're bleeding." _

"_It's nothing." Oliver said more worried about her. He'd noticed the glass sticking out of her leg. _

"_Come here." Chloe grabbed at the top layer of her skirt and reached for his head. _

"_You'll ruin your dress." Oliver moved away from her, blinking rapidly. Chloe knew that look, that meant concussion, that meant quite a bit of blood loss._

"_Right." Chloe snorted. "I think that's a lost cause at this point." She pressed the fabric against his skull and he winced. "There was another car right? It ran us off the road." She asked quietly. "I didn't imagine that?"_

"_There was." Oliver nodded. "That's why we're not waiting around patiently for the ambulance." He finally found the seatbelt and pressed the button hard but it didn't budge. "Shit, it's jammed."_

"_You know who they are?" Chloe looked down at him. He stopped and looked up at her before nodding once. "Oliver." Chloe said confused and afraid. _

"_I was going to tell you." Oliver said reaching around for a large enough piece of glass to cut the belt with. "I just didn't know how." _

"_Tell me what?" Chloe asked him and he ignored her. She dropped the fabric and grabbed his chin, turning his head to face her. "Tell me what?"_

"_We don't have time for this." Oliver tore his face away from hers. "We've got to get out of here."_

"_A bit late for that I'm afraid." A voice said from outside the car, a man, with a British accent. Chloe looked behind Oliver and saw three different sets of shoes. _

"_Oliver go." Chloe whispered and he shook his head forcefully. "Leave me here and just go." Chloe tried to push him away. _

_  
"Oh he's not going anywhere love." The man said. "Grab him."_

"_No." Chloe reached out for Oliver's arm as two of the pairs of shoes moved closer. Four sets of hands reached down and grabbed Oliver's ankles, roughly pulling him from the car. "Oliver." _

"_Chloe!" He screamed for her. _

Mia sighed, ready to just throw in the towel as Chloe got that far away look in her eyes again. They'd had her, she was alert, she was talking, she was…alive again and then she saw the blood. "Maybe we should try a different approach."

"I don't think that'll be necessary." Chloe said suddenly, her eyes looking straight at Mia, clear and intelligent and every muscle in Mia's body seemed to melt into jelly at the relief she felt. Chloe held out her hand and Clark and Victor moved forward immediately to pull her up. "We've got a lot of work to do." She said when she was standing up. "First things first, I need some clothes." She turned to Bart and he nodded then he was gone.

"Where did he go?" Mia looked around the room confused.

"Victor, the car, it's off Highway 34, I'm not sure where exactly." Chloe said holding a hand out to pull Dinah up. "I need pictures from the accident site, I need anything that doesn't belong and I need it two hours ago."

"The place is swarming with cops." Bart said suddenly standing in front Chloe again, arms outstretched, holding a pair of jeans, boots, and sweater.

"When has that ever stopped us?" Chloe scoffed. She pulled the jeans on under her dress and then slid her arms carefully into the sweater. "Lois?" Chloe turned and allowed Lois to undo the laces on the back of her dress and it slid to the floor. She stepped out of it with little fuss, leaving it where it lay and Victor headed for the door. "Did you grab my…" Bart handed over Chloe's computer without her even finishing the question. "Good job."

"Wait, hold on." Mia stepped in front of Victor. "He's not going to the crime scene, there's no reason for him to go to the crime scene, we've got everything under control there ok."

"I really think you don't." Chloe said. "Though it's not your fault. I didn't give you much to go on." Victor slipped past Mia and was out the door before she could formulate a response to that. Chloe opened up her computer and turned it on.

"Clark, I need to know what Oliver was working on. There's something he didn't tell me, something…I want all his files. You know the code for the office?" Clark nodded and kissed her head before walking out of the door. "Dinah." Chloe called out and Dinah turned to her. "Thanks." Dinah just shrugged.

"Here you go Ms. Queen." Mason slid a fresh cup of coffee in front of her and Chloe's smile was so bright and thankful that Mia could hardly believe she was looking at the same girl from two hours ago.

"Mason you are honestly the best." Chloe reached over and kissed his cheek. "I wasn't kidding about keeping you forever." Mason blushed and moved back to his coffee cart.

Mia slipped into the seat next to Chloe and grabbed her hands, pulling them away from the keyboard. "Chloe, you need to be careful. You've been in shock, your brain basically shut itself down for hours so that it could work its way through the trauma, repair the damage that was done. You may think you're ok but you're not."

"Mia." Chloe smiled softly at her. "Can I call you Mia? I really appreciate everything that you've done for me. You're right, I had some things to work through and you watched over me while I was doing that. Thanks, but I've got it from here. You don't know what you're getting into, so let me handle it."

"Chloe I'm here to help you." Mia said slowly.

"You know what would help?" Chloe asked suddenly. "Food. I'm famished. Haven't eaten anything since the cake at the ceremony." She turned to Lois suddenly. "Oh, was there any cake left? It was amazing."

"I had it packed up and sent back to your house." Lois smiled as Chloe's face fell.

"There's some donuts out front." Wise said. "I'll grab you some."

"Sergeant Wise." Chloe jumped from her chair and hugged him. "Donuts would be heaven. You're a good man." She kissed his cheek and he stared at her, amused for a second before walking out of the room. Mia felt as if this whole situation was slowly slipping out of her control.

Almost as if in response to that thought, the door opened and Clark walked back in, a stack of file boxes three high in his arms. Mia stared as the room around her impossibly turned into some sort of makeshift command center in less than ten minutes. Chloe's laptop wasn't enough apparently and just like magic, as soon as she mentioned it, two more computers appeared on the desk. The large table was covered with file folders that AC, Dinah, Lois, and Clark were enthralled in, every now and then throwing one to the side, dismissing whatever it was as a possibility for whatever they were looking for.

"Do you get the feeling that they know more about what's going here than they're letting on?" Wise asked after setting a pile of chocolate covered donuts with colored sprinkles in front of Chloe who ohh'ed and ahh'ed claiming that she'd hadn't had one of those since she was a kid.

"Whatever gave you that idea?" Mia snorted.

Victor walked into the room, completely ignoring her as he dropped a stack of photos in front of Chloe. "Great." Chloe pushed her computer away and Mia stepped closer, seeing what looked like pictures of a car accident, Chloe's accident. Some of the shots were really close up and there was no way that Victor could have gotten them.

"How did you get those?" They all turned, somewhat surprised to see Mia still standing there.

"I hacked in the CSU's computer and stole their shots." Victor said absentmindedly. "It was easier than taking my own and those guys are pretty thorough."

"You hacked into the CSU computer?" Mia asked stunned. "You can't just hack into our system."

"What is this?" Chloe passed a picture to him and he looked at it.

"There was another car there, possibly two." Victor said. "I saw a few different tire tracks, I'm running the treads now."

"What about footprints?" Chloe flipped through the shots. "There were three..." She closed her eyes and shook her head. "No, four men there."

"Bart did a pretty good job not screwing up the scene but the first responders didn't bother with being careful because they had no reason to believe it was a crime scene." Victor said. "I'm working on weeding out all the shoe prints that could be police or paramedics, it's gonna take a while."

"Chloe, I have no idea what I'm looking for here." AC sighed and dropped a file. "Bart said there was a car accident but you're talking as if it wasn't really an accident. What's going on here? What the hell were you doing on Highway 34? What people were there?"

"It might help if we knew what happened." Lois said softly.

Chloe flinched and sucked in a breath. "I'm not sure I'm ready to…"

Mia was by her side in an instant, smiling at her. "Maybe if you start at the beginning. Tell me about the wedding, work your way up to the accident."

Chloe swallowed hard and then nodded.


	5. Chapter 5

Chloe could honestly say that she'd never felt so relaxed before in her entire life. She could also say with a fair amount of certainty that the likely hood of her ever becoming this relaxed again was about one in a million.

The sun was high in the sky, warm on her skin but not scorching. The breeze coming in off the ocean was more than sufficient to dry any beads of sweat that should happen to form. Sometimes it was even enough to leave her with a slight chill and the sound of the waves ridiculously relaxing.

If she wasn't mistaken, and she wasn't, there was even a pod of dolphins playing further out in the surf. Every now and then she could hear one of them laughing. She sighed, one of those deeply satisfying sighs. It felt like it was being pulled up from her bones and expelled though her pores. It relaxed each and every muscle, even ones she didn't know existed, and curled her toes.

"You sound…content." The gravely rumble of the deep Scottish brogue seemed harsh and out of place in this tropical paradise but Chloe smiled anyway, barely tilting her head to the right in acknowledgment.

"I am perfectly content." Chloe practically purred. "You on the other hand sound depressed. And that's impossible because no one can be depressed here."

"Of course he's depressed, we're both bloody well depressed aren't we?" Chloe turned her head the other way towards the smooth British accent and frowned, then frowned even harder because she didn't want to frown here, this was her special place damn it.

"Why are you depressed?" She asked.

"Well, they'll be no more of this after the wedding, will there?" The British accent asked annoyed.

"Oh boys." Chloe shook her head in amusement. "Just because I'm getting married doesn't mean we can't still come here."

"I suppose the husband will be joining us?" The Scottish accent joined in on the pity party.

"No. Oliver doesn't come here, this is my place; our place." She corrected.

"Chloe, we need to talk." This voice was new and different and it didn't belong in this place. She lifted her sunglasses confused and turned sharply to the right. Were merely moments before there had been a young buff Sean Connery circa "Dr. No" the beach chair was now empty.

"Seriously, Chloe." She turned to her left and sat up in disbelief. Not only was Sean Connery gone but Daniel, beautiful, wonderful, Daniel Craig complete with "Casino Royale" swim trunks was nowhere to be found.

"Are you awake?" The voice asked again and Chloe groaned in defeat. Forcing herself out of her dream paradise to rejoin the real world.

When she opened her eyes she had to blink a few times before she could focus. But even when her eyes adjusted, the image in front of her was still blurry, because it was too close. She pulled her head back a bit and sighed. "Bart?"

Bart's face, a few inches from her own, chin resting on his hands which sat a top her pillow, smiled at her. "You were expecting Bond maybe? James Bond."

Chloe narrowed her eyes at him and frowned. "How do you know about that?" The only person she'd ever reveled her private, frequent, multiple Bond's on the beach dream to was Lois, who was sworn to secrecy. She didn't have the dream often, usually when she was very stressed or anxious about something. It relaxed her. The tropical setting, the slightly breeze, beautiful sun calmed her nerves. The two very attractive men, both with a license to kill, didn't hurt either.

"Lois didn't say anything." Bart brushed it off. "Victor hacked her cell phone a few weeks ago and read your text messages." Chloe's eyes widened in surprise and Bart rolled his. "Don't worry, it's not like we hacked her phone just to read your text messages; we did it for a completely different reason."

"That makes me feel so much better." Chloe scoffed, wondering why on earth Victor would need or want to hack Lois' cell phone. "Bart." Chloe blinked at him, he hadn't moved yet. "Do you understand the meaning of personal space?"

"Sorry." He said in a way that let Chloe know he wasn't really sorry at all, but he moved back non the less. She pulled herself to a sitting position and stretched, twisting her neck, annoyed that her dream had been interrupted. They hadn't even gotten to the good stuff yet. Then she saw the clock and she was simply annoyed.

"It's four in the freaking morning." Chloe turned on Bart. "What the hell are you doing here at four in the morning?"

"I told you, we need to talk."

"I'm never getting back to sleep now. I need a shower." Chloe said. "If I get out and your still here, and you're not standing next to a freshly brewed pot of coffee, oh you really don't want to think of the consequences." She walked to the bathroom and Bart paled, hurrying to the kitchen because he knew from over ten years of experience that he really didn't want her to finish that sentence.

******

Bart tried out a few positions in an effort to make himself seem as harmless as possible and finally decided that the best way to portray that image was to be standing outside of her bedroom door, holding out a fresh steaming cup of coffee in supplication.

Chloe walked out of the room, shaking her hair out, getting rid of the tangles with her fingers. The shower had managed to release some of the tension from Bart's unexpected early morning visit. The coffee he was holding in his hand was going to go a long way to releasing the rest of it.

Bart was smart. He'd known Chloe long enough that he didn't even attempt to speak again until she'd handed him the empty cup for him to refill it. "Alright." She said taking the first sip of the second cup. "What's going on?"

"You sure about this whole marrying Oliver thing?" Bart asked and only his literally lightning fast reflexes allowed him to move out of the way of the hot coffee she spewed all over the table.

"Really?" Chloe wiped her mouth. "The morning of my wedding you want to come here and ask me that question?"

"I just think that maybe you're rushing into this." Bart protested, cleaning the coffee off the table and chair before sitting back down.

"I'm rushing into this?" Chloe laughed. "We've known each other for almost eleven years, we been dating five years, engaged for two and you think I'm rushing into this."

"How well can you really get to know a person in eleven years?" Bart asked. "Not that well."

"I've known you eleven years." Chloe pointed out.

"Actually you've known me for thirteen years." He smirked at her.

"Right." Chloe said. "And those two extra years, where I saw you a total of twice made all the difference huh?"

"It's not just that. Come on Chloe. Don't even pretend that this is the wedding you wanted."

Chloe opened her mouth to protest but shut it quickly. He was right, everyone knew he was right, this was not the wedding that Chloe wanted. This was not the wedding that Chloe had planned, had painstakingly plotted out to the last tiny detail.

Everyone thought she was crazy but she had really rather preferred everything before Oliver got his money back. Everything was easier, infinitely simpler when they had no money. She liked her tiny one bedroom apartment. She liked the television cabinet that she found in a thrift store and spent three weekends sanding and painting. It had been the pride of their tiny little living room and had somehow managed to get lost in a storage unit when they moved to the new place. The new place that now felt ridiculously large after living in such close quarters for so long.

Most of all though, she missed her wedding, her small intimate wedding that was now just a memory. The family only ceremony that was going to be held in a small park at the edges of the city. The antique wedding gown that she'd found when she wasn't even looking in the bottom of a trunk at a flea market. They actually did decide to hold the reception at the Stout Goat, although they managed to find a slightly more suitable caterer than Milo the hot dog guy. It was everything she ever wanted and she'd managed to plan it under budget too.

It's true it wouldn't have made a four page spread in Vogue magazine. It was not a wedding that millionaires or royalty would be likely to RSVP to. And that was fine, because while they were planning it there was no reason to invite millionaires or royalty. Then suddenly, Oliver is back, his company is back, his money is back. Suddenly they have to invite millionaires and royalty, they are expected to have a lavish ceremony with a ridiculously expensive dress with lace that was handmade in Italy. The ceremony was moved from the park to the Cathedral down town, the reception from the Stout Goat to the Marquee Hotel ballroom.

The ballroom was beautifully decorated, she'd checked on it yesterday. Her dress was breathtaking and the cake was the absolute most exquisite thing that she'd ever eaten in her life, still it wasn't what she wanted. She was going along with everything simply to make Oliver happy.

Since he'd gotten back on top he was being far more responsible with his money than he'd ever been in his life. He wasn't throwing money away on ridiculous purchases or extravagant nonsense but every now and then he felt the need to spend money because he knew he could. The wedding was one of those times. It was almost like he was trying to prove something to Chloe, or possibly himself she wasn't sure. He knew just as well as everyone else that this wasn't the wedding she wanted, and Chloe felt that deep down this wasn't even the wedding that Oliver wanted.

At first she fought it, she fought tooth and nail with the wedding planner Oliver hired for her. She'd tried to hold onto something, to anything from her original wedding. But as her antique dress was replaced with the hand made one, the caterer upgraded, she realized that she was fighting a losing battle. The wedding itself didn't matter; it was the marriage that mattered. So she just gave the planner a rubber stamp and sat back to enjoy the show.

"I don't think anyone would believe me if I said that this was the wedding I wanted." Chloe agreed. "But it doesn't matter, you know that."

Bart's face fell for a second then just as quickly as the frown appeared, it was gone. "Hungry?" Before she could tell him that she couldn't possibly eat anything while the cast of Cirque du Soleil was doing a special early morning performance in her stomach, he was back with a wide assortment of breakfast foods to choose from. She simply smiled as he tore into a bear claw and couldn't help but notice that his leg was shaking under the table a mile a minute.

"Bart." Chloe moved to sit next to him and put a hand on his knee, quieting the movement but unable to stop it completely. "What are you really doing here?"

"Seriously?" Bart sighed and dropped the bear claw to the table and whipped his hands off. "I'm here for you. I honestly just want to know, want you to look me in the eye and tell me that this is it, that he's the guy."

Chloe stared at Bart and smiled sadly. "What if I said no?" She asked him softly. "What if I said you were right, this was too soon, this isn't the wedding I wanted…what would you do?"

"I've got it covered." Bart smirked at her. "I'd whisk you away. We'd move to Reno and have our names legally changed so no one could find us." He sipped his own coffee. "I'd become a black jack dealer and you could get a job as a cocktail waitress."

"You've got this all figured out huh?" Chloe smiled.

"I've already got an apartment on hold in the name of Rodriguez." He said. "Say the word and we're out of here."

"Bart." Chloe sighed. "That's sweet, really very sweet. But this is it, he's the one." Bart just nodded at her and Chloe frowned thinking of something. "You and I…we had this talk years ago. You came to terms with the fact that we simply weren't meant to be together and as far as I knew, I just assumed you were over your little…crush on me."

"That's not what this is about." Bart assured her with a smile and Chloe actually blushed.

"Then what is this about?" Chloe asked him.

"It's my job to take care of you." Bart said as if that answered everything.

"It's really not." Chloe laughed at him.

"It kind of is." Bart corrected her.

"_Dude you are in so much trouble." AC shook his head as he trudged slowly, tiredly up the stairs. Bart just stopped, one foot on the bottom step, cradling his right shoulder and staring at the back of AC's head as he climbed in front of him. _

"_What?" He asked incredulous. He had absolutely nothing to do with whatever the hell had gone wrong. Seeing as how they weren't even sure what the hell went wrong, there was no way to deduce that Bart was in fact the person in the wrong here. _

_Dinah simply passed by him, patting him on the back a few times and shaking her head as she limped up the stairs. Bart sped ahead of the both of them so that he made it to the door first, glaringly demanding an explanation. AC was startled but quickly regained his composure and brushed past him to get into the apartment. _

"_What do you mean I'm in trouble?" He asked as Dinah shoved him into a chair and AC grabbed the first aid kit. AC tossed it to Dinah who, with only a slight raise to her eyebrow, got Bart to strip off his top. _

"_Oliver's going to murder you." Dinah explained cleaning the two inch gash that ran from Bart's collarbone to his shoulder blade. "That's what we mean." _

"_Because I got hurt?" Bart winced as she prodded unnecessarily at the raw edges of the cut. _

"_Because _Chloe_ got hurt." AC said falling down on the couch and letting out a tired sigh. _

"_I know." Bart pointed to his shoulder. "Hence my injury pushing her out of the way." _

"_She never should have been in the way." Dinah grumbled. _

"_Wait how exactly is that my fault?" Bart winced again, glaring at Dinah as she poked him. "Seriously, do you have to do that?"_

"_No." Dinah smiled. "But I _like_ to do that." _

"_You're evil." _

"_It's been said." Dinah dropped the bloody rag on the table. "You want me to stitch it or just glue?"_

"_Glue." Bart paled at the idea of Dinah attacking him with a large pointy needle. _

"_It'll take longer to heal." Dinah pulled the needle out of the box and waved it in front of him with far too much zeal. _

"_I'll take my chances." Bart swallowed. _

"_Not gonna matter, cause Oliver's gonna tear him apart with his bare hands." _

"_Ok, one, he'd have to catch me first." Bart smirked. "Two, he barely yelled when I totaled his bike and that was totally and completely my fault. What exactly makes you think that I'm going to get torn apart because Chloe happened to get hurt in the general vicinity of me?"_

"_Cause it's your job to protect her." AC pointed out as if that was the most obvious thing in the universe, even more obvious that the existence of gravity, or the fact that the sky was blue, or that the French were annoying._

"_What?" Bart asked incredulously, rapidly staring between AC and Dinah._

_The door flung open and Victor walked in, frantically searching the room until he saw Bart. "What the hell are you doing here?" He closed the door behind him. "Run, run as fast as your little feet can carry you. If you hurry you'll be in Tokyo before he…" They heard the door to the stairwell slam shut. "Oh shit." Victor shoved at Bart. "Go, go, go." _

"_I'm not going anywhere." Bart shrugged out of Victor's hands and turned as Oliver slowly and calmly walked into the room. _

"_Whoa." Dinah stood up and AC grabbed her elbow, pulling her further from the door. _

_Victor sidestepped quietly out of the line of fire and joined AC and Dinah by the back door, in case they needed to make a quick escape. Bart was frozen to the spot, completely and utterly frozen to the spot. Twenty seconds ago he could have visited all 195 countries in the world and been back in the same spot before anyone knew that he was gone. Now though, he was absolutely positive that he couldn't even lift his big toe even if he tried for an hour. Oliver would have no problem catching him._

"_Bart." Oliver nodded at the man._

"_Oliver." Bart croaked out. This was bad, this was really really bad. Oliver had always been a very passionate person, when it came to his work, when it came to his extracurricular activities and when it came to his family and friends. He laughed loudly, he screamed loudly, he lived loudly, except now, he was almost deathly quiet. _

"_This is bad." Victor whispered. "This is very very bad." _

_Dinah and AC nodded their heads in agreement. "Guys, can you give us a minute?" Oliver turned his attention to them._

"_I think…" Victor took a step forward only to take two steps back at one look from Oliver. "I think it's better for all parties involved if there were witnesses to this particular…event." _

"_Fair enough." Oliver put his hands in his pocket and turned his attention back to Bart. Bart imagined that this moment should have had some sort of background music, something fairly western, like the standoff at the OK Corral. He pictured a tumbleweed fluttering between the two of them. For a fraction of a second he even thought he saw Oliver's hand twitch as if in an effort not to reach for a gun. _

"_You don't have a gun do you?" Bart asked. Oliver narrowed his eyes and shook his head, just once. Bart sighed in relief. That was good because he couldn't guarantee at this moment in time he was actually faster than a speeding bullet. "Right." He coughed. "How's Chloe?"_

"_Doc says she'll be fine. Minor concussion." Oliver's eye twitched and Bart swallowed hard. _

"_Good, that's good." Bart nodded nervously. "Could have been worse."_

"_Could have been better." Oliver said menacingly. _

"_Ok." Bart held up his hands. "I'm not entirely sure why it is that everyone seems to think that this is my fault, in fact I'm absolutely eighty percent certain that it was not my fault. And please don't hit me for saying this but Chloe left her post. She was not where she was supposed to be and if anything it's her fault." Oliver glared harder at Bart if that were even possible. "Not to mention the fact that I was the one who pushed her out of the way of the knife, getting a nice big cut for my troubles." Bart offered his injured shoulder as proof of his heroic deed._

"_That doesn't really help your case much." Oliver shook his head. "Seeing as how the knife barely grazed her. It was actually the fall against the stone floor from your shove that gave her the head injury." _

"_Oh, so then it was like forty percent my fault?" Bart asked hopefully._

"_It was your fault." Oliver said. _

"_Why?" Bart begged him for an answer._

"_Cause it's your job to protect her." Oliver said in the same way one would say that fire is hot or water is wet. _

"_Since when has that been my job?"_

"_Since forever." Oliver told him with a shrug, most of his anger gone now. "You were doing it before I even met her. It's just, what you do." And Bart realized it was what he did. It was what he'd always done. He looked out for Chloe, made sure she was safe, and to the best of his abilities, made sure she was happy. It was like what Oliver said, it was just what he did._

"_Why?" Bart asked after a long pause. "I mean you're her boyfriend now, why is it still my job?"_

_Oliver stopped, as if this had never occurred to him before and just shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, it just…is." _

"_Right, yeah." Bart nodded, accepting his new, or rather old role, quite easily. "I'll try harder next time." _

"_You do that." Oliver nodded and walked to the back room. "And get that shoulder stitched up, the glue is never gonna hold with all your running around." _

"_Yes sir." Bart nodded and turned around in time to see an evil smirk on Dinah's face as she eyed the first aid kit. _

Chloe stared at Bart for a minute, realizing that he was right, he was constantly making sure that she was ok, that she was happy and she leaned over, kissing his cheek softly. "Have I told you lately you're my favorite?" Chloe asked and his face ducked away from her so he didn't see the bright red blush.

The doorbell rang and Chloe looked over, it was just getting on six in the morning, still far too early for anyone, other than Bart apparently, to come visit. They both stood up and walked to the door. When Chloe opened it she looked surprised to see a man standing there. "Can I help you?" Chloe asked him confused.

"Mr. Queen sent me?" He said it like a question, almost as if he was unsure himself.

"Right. Do you know why Mr. Queen sent you?" Chloe asked clearly and slowly as if the guy was an idiot.

"I'm Mason. Your wedding present." Mason smiled. Chloe turned to Bart with huge eyes and then back to Mason as Bart tried his hardest not to laugh.

"Excuse me? You're my wedding present?" Chloe choked on her words, hoping against hope that there was something she was missing here. "What am I expected to do with you?" She squinted at him. "Or to you?" She added, slightly horrified.

"Did you have any idea Oliver was this kinky?" Bart said through clenched teeth, the urge to laugh almost so overwhelming that he was thinking of biting his tongue just to distract himself.

"Oh!" Mason flushed a shade of pink that Chloe thought impossible in human beings. "No, no, no, no." He shook his head. "It's not what you're thinking, not at all." He was flustered beyond belief and Chloe found that slightly endearing. The elevator buzzed down the hall signaling its arrival and Mason held up a hand, asking Chloe to hold on a second. He ran down the hall and Chloe turned to Bart.

"Don't." She warned but it was too late, he couldn't hold it in.

"He got you a dude for your wedding present, another man." Bart laughed, letting it finally come out. "Oh, this is so going into my best man speech."

"You are not the best man, and you are definitely not making a speech." Chloe warned him. "And until we figure out what's going on here, this doesn't not leave this room, do you understand?"

"I'm telling everyone and you know it." Bart shook his head still laughing.

Mason grunted down the hall, panting slightly and sounding like he was dragging something behind him. "Sorry, we couldn't fit in the same elevator."

"We?" Bart's voice rose another octave and turned to Chloe. "There's a 'we'."

"Bart." Chloe shushed him, wondering herself what Mason meant when he said "we". She relaxed completely when instead of a cart full of people came into a view, a different kind of cart entirely rolled into her apartment. "Oh thank god." She let out her breath. "It's just a coffee cart."

"Man, it's just a coffee cart." Bart said slightly disappointed.

"So you're here to make me a cup of coffee?" Chloe asked confused.

"Oh, no." Mason shook his head. "Not just _a_ cup of coffee, and not just coffee. I am under strict instructions to never leave your side today and to provide you with whatever form of caffeinated beverage you could possibly want."

"All day?" Chloe allowed a slow smile spread across her face.

"All day." Mason nodded.

"My own personal barista with mobile coffee house?" Chloe smiled even bigger as Mason nodded. She turned to Bart. "That, right there, that's why he's the guy."

"I get it." Bart nodded holding up his hands in surrender. "I'm gonna head over to Victor's, get ready for the ceremony."

"Ok." Chloe kissed his cheek.

"And seriously at any point during the ceremony if it's too much or you're having second thoughts, whatever…just give me a signal and we're out of there. I can have you in Reno by nightfall."

"Sure thing." Chloe chuckled and Bart just stood there, waiting. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"So what's the signal?" Bart put his hands in his pocket. "Can you twitch your nose that chick from Bewitched?"

"Can I what?" Chloe frowned at him.

"Never mind." Bart shook his head. "That might not even work, you'll probably cry which could make your nose all twitchy and I might get the wrong idea. Maybe you could tuck your hair behind your ear."

"I'm wearing my hair up." Chloe smiled in amusement.

"Ok." Bart thought. "How about this?" He did a complicated hand gesture and Chloe tried to hold in her laughter.

"Isn't that the signal to steal third base?" Chloe asked.

"Actually it's the signal to swing away." Bart said sheepishly.

"Who the hell are you?" Chloe turned back to the door to see Lois staring at Mason with a look that was one part annoyance, one part anger and one part curiosity. She was holding a large bag in one hand and a vase of tulips in the other, giving Mason the once over.

"Lois, don't be rude." Chloe pulled her in the apartment and moved to shut the door. "This is Mason. Oliver got him for me. He's my wedding present."

Lois looked at Mason who smiled, trying to put her at ease. "Oliver got you another guy for a wedding present?" Lois nodded. "Kinky, didn't know you guys were into that."

"God, get your mind out of the gutter." Chloe rolled her eyes, conveniently forgetting that she had thought the same thing not ten minutes ago. "He's just here to make me coffee."

"Or tea, or even iced coffee." Mason elaborated holding a cup of something out to Chloe. "Almond Mocha with extra Whipped Cream." Chloe took the cup slowly. "Your favorite right?"

"These were by your door." Lois handed her the flowers and Chloe set them on the counter, smiling at them with affection. "Oliver does know he's got you now right? He can stop the wooing."

Chloe just sipped the coffee and closed her eyes, her whole body relaxing and she almost felt like she was back on her island with her Bonds. "Mason, you are absolutely amazing." She smiled blindingly at him.

"Can I get anything for you Miss Lane?"

"Uh you can stop calling me Miss Lane." Lois scoffed. "And just a coffee, black, nothing frilly."

"Two of those please." Another voice said from the doorway and Dinah walked in carrying her own bag. She stopped confused, but unlike Lois she was not confused by Mason's presence rather by Bart's. She narrowed her eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"That's private." Bart glared at her. "Between Chloe and myself."

"Right." Dinah walked further into the room. She took the cup of coffee Mason was holding out for Lois, but never took her eyes off of Bart.

"We can finish this later." Bart kissed Chloe's cheek then walked out of the room. Mason sheepishly held out another cup for Lois.

"What was all that about?" Dinah sipped the coffee.

"He was just…"

Before Chloe could explain Bart popped his head back in the apartment. "How do you feel about winking?"

"Bart." Chloe shook her head with a laugh.

"You'd like Reno." Bart offered. "The biggest little city in the world."

"I'm good really." Chloe assured him and he held up his hands in surrender and walked out.

"Reno?" Dinah put her hands on her hips.

"It's nothing." Chloe said as her phone rang. She excused herself and walked out to the balcony to answer it. "Good morning." Chloe smiled.

"Did you get my present?" Oliver asked.

"I did." Chloe sat down at the table and took another sip of her coffee. "But I thought we agreed no wedding presents."

"Right, like you listened." Oliver snorted.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Chloe feigned ignorance.

"So I'm just supposed to believe that Ethan Patterson decided out of the kindness of his heart to return my car this morning?" Oliver laughed at her.

"Maybe that was Ethan's wedding present to you." Chloe offered.

"I've been trying to buy it back from him for almost a year now and he said, and I quote, that he would rather have his testicles removed with a dull spoon than sell me the car back." That was true. Ethan and Oliver had never been good friends. They went to prep school together and then college. They generally competed for the same awards, the same business ventures, the same women. Chloe even remembered, after she and Oliver had been dating about a year, being backed into a corner at a charity function by a drunk Ethan whispering all the ways he could please her better than Oliver ever could. Ethan was one of the only people who openly rejoiced when Oliver lost everything, buying his precious car at one of the auctions and purposely flaunting it at every opportunity.

"Fine." Chloe smiled. "You got me."

Oliver had been trying his hardest to buy back all that was sold and the car was one of the last holdouts. "How did you afford it?" He asked her. She was welcome to spend any of his money that she felt like spending, no questions asked. She didn't like too though and Oliver would have known if there was suddenly almost two million dollars missing from one of his bank accounts.

"Actually he was so moved by my argument, and he felt horrible at the way he treated you. So he decided to give me the car rather than sell it." Chloe finished her coffee and sighed, motioning Mason out to the patio. He dutifully lugged his cart toward the sliding glass doors.

"He was so moved by your argument that he gave you a car worth 1.5 million dollars to you?" Oliver asked confused. "You really expect me to buy that? What did you say to him?"

"Well I insinuated that I believed him to be cheating on his wife and that I might possibly have photographic evidence to back that accusation up. And considering who might possibly be the other person in said photographic evidence with him, it would better for all parties involved if he were to help me out. He gave me the car, I burned the film, everyone went away happy." Chloe shrugged.

"Who was the other person?" Oliver asked intrigued.

"Sorry I can't divulge that information." Chloe shook her head. "It could possibly render our agreement null and void."

"You blackmailed him, it's not like he's going to take you to court." Oliver scoffed.

"I do have some honor." Chloe bristled.

"You're not going to tell me?" Oliver pouted. "Seriously? We'll be married in like five hours."

"Sorry." She smiled.

"What if I guessed?" Oliver asked.

"You can try but you never will." Chloe assured him.

"Never say never." Oliver laughed. Chloe looked inside to see Dinah and Lois arguing over something but it didn't seem mean spirited and through Oliver's phone she could hear Victor teasing AC about something and Clark trying to stop them fighting. She suddenly felt content, right down to her bones, she was getting married today, her family was happy and healthy and for the first time in a long time they were all together. The last time that actually happened was…Christmas.

"Mason." Chloe turned suddenly with an overwhelming craving. "At Christmas time and only at Christmas time, a lot of places have this peppermint coffee…"

"With or without whipped cream?" Mason smiled grabbing a bag from inside his cart and pouring beans into a grinder.

"With please." Chloe smiled as he pushed the button on the grinder.

"I assume everything's going well with Mason." Oliver said.

"Can I keep him?" Chloe asked as he started to brew the coffee. "Forever and ever?" She inhaled the delicious aroma of peppermint contently.

"You've got him all day, that should be enough." Oliver chuckled. Chloe made a displeased grunting noise. "Stop it, I can hear you sulking."

"I don't sulk." Chloe said sulkily.

"Ok, enjoy your coffee, I've got to go. See you at the church?" Oliver asked.

"See you at the church." Chloe nodded and turned around to see Mason holding out a cup of peppermint coffee.

"Pour some of that in there would you?" Lois walked out and shoved a bottle of whiskey in Mason's arms.

"Uh…" Mason looked at the bottle of alcohol and then at Chloe.

"Don't look at her. Maid of honor here, I know what I'm doing. Trust me, she's gonna need it." Mason still wasn't entirely sure until Chloe gave him a slight nod.

"Is there anything in particular you see going so horribly wrong today that I need to start drinking before seven in the morning?" Chloe asked slightly amused.

"Lisa." Dinah said from the doorway a slight smirk on her face.

Chloe groaned. For about two hours she'd managed to completely forget about the wedding planner from hell, the woman who had basically taken complete control over Chloe's life for the past six months. "Lisa." Chloe grunted in annoyance. "What's she done now?" Chloe raised an eyebrow as Mason set the now spiked coffee on the table in front of her. "Wait." She sat up straighter. "Where's my dress? Where are your dresses?"

"At the church." Lois said cautiously

"I didn't want to get ready at the church." Chloe reminded her. "I wanted to get ready here, just us, relaxing at home before the ceremony."

"Lisa said…" Lois started to explain and Chloe brushed her off, she really didn't want to hear it. "Hey have you ever tried to say no to her?"

Chloe snorted. "Why do you think there are going to be peacocks wondering around the cathedral grounds? Did you honestly think that was something I wanted?"

Dinah snorted. "Do you honestly think anything about this day is what you wanted?"

"The groom." Chloe laughed and Dinah actually smiled. "But that's about it actually." Chloe sipped her drink and coughed, unprepared for the whiskey.

Lois grabbed the whiskey and dumped a shot in her's and Dinah's mugs before raising her cup in the air. "I'd like to propose a toast." Dinah and Chloe followed her lead. "To Chloe's Wedding. It's nothing that she wanted, and everything that she hates, but she's marrying a billionaire so who cares." Lois shot back the rest of her coffee as Dinah and Chloe erupted in giggles.

"That was horrible." Dinah shook her head, trying to get her laughing under control.

"I know." Lois sighed. "Ok, fine, seriously now." She took a deep breath and stared at Chloe. "I know it's not what you wanted but I know that's not what matters. I also know you don't care about the billions of dollars, in fact I can honestly say you are the only person in the world who was probably happier poor." Chloe blushed. "But the fact of the matter is, Italian lace, random peacocks and wedding planners from hell aside, you're marrying the man you love today and that's what's important."

"I'll drink to that." Chloe said taking another sip of her coffee.

*******

The rest of the day was sort of a blur partly due to the whiskey that had been consumed before the sun was even high in the sky and partly because Chloe was just happy to be marrying Oliver, and nothing was going to spoil her mood.

Lisa was running around like a chicken with her head cut off dealing with crisis after crisis that Chloe didn't even bother to listen to. Except when there was a report of a peacock biting a guest, which was both horrible and insanely hilarious. Chloe's inability to stop laughing when Lisa told her the situation didn't endear her to the frazzled wedding planner in the least.

Chloe got a text from Oliver while her make-up was getting done. "Was it Sarah Novak? I always thought she was Ethan's type."

"Nope, she's sleeping with her sister's husband." Chloe said. "But get this, Sissy Parker got bit by a peacock." Chloe texted Oliver as the make-up artist tried to get her ready.

"Seriously?" Oliver texted back.

"It gets better." Chloe typed rapidly. "She was bitten while attempting to pull herself off the ground, after falling into the champagne fountain."

"How did she fall into the champagne fountain?" Oliver asked.

The woman trying to do Chloe's make-up gave her an annoyed glare but Chloe didn't stop texting. "Apparently, her husband, or rather ex-husband, decided to bring a date."

"Really?" Oliver asked. "Anyone we know?"

"Simon Ralston." Chloe typed back.

It took a good minute for Oliver to respond to this. "You're telling me, that Henry Parker, chose our wedding as the ideal place to come out of the closet, with his business partner, a mere three months after his divorce? Resulting in Sissy Parker, falling into the champagne fountain and being bitten by a peacock."

"Best. Wedding. Ever. Right?" Chloe smiled. "Couldn't have asked for a better present."

"If I'd only known, I could have saved the money on Mason." Oliver told her.

"Blasphemy." Chloe managed to type before Lois snatched her phone away and allowed the make-up artist to finish her job.

"Mason?" Chloe called him over. Mason had only earned more points in Chloe's eyes. Lisa took an instant disliked him, causing her even more anguish over where she was going to put him and what he was going to eat. Also because he knowingly switched to decaf at eleven without Chloe even asking, which was the only thing keeping her from jumping out of her skin.

"Yes Miss Sullivan?" Mason stepped forward.

"I feel like…Caramel."

"Why? Are you terribly sticky?" He joked and she smiled at him. "Don't worry I've got just the thing." He turned back to his cart, grinding beans and mixing syrups and at one point he even tossed the cup in the air with his left hand to catch it behind his back with his right hand a la Tom Cruise in Cocktail and Chloe clapped at the display.

********

It was a beautiful ceremony, the cathedral was breathtaking. The wedding had been timed precisely so that the sunlight hit the stained glass windows at the perfect angle, bathing everyone in a sea of multicolored lights. Chloe was very interested to see what the effect was going to look like in the wedding pictures.

There was only one small hitch. When Oliver was saying his vows he winked at Chloe. Not really thinking, she winked back. Bart was halfway to her side, ready to whisk her off to Reno before Victor or AC could blink, but Clark was faster than them, intercepting Bart before he could reach Chloe, and dragging him outside. The only outwardly visible sign that anything had happened was a slight breeze that seemingly came from nowhere and ruffled Chloe's dress around her ankles. If anyone noticed that two of the grooms men were missing they didn't say anything.

They said their "I Do's", they "kissed the bride" and they were pronounced man and wife and that was that. They were alone in the cathedral taking a breather before entering the real world. "Jenny Lawton." Oliver said from Chloe's side.

"Why would anyone care if Ethan was sleeping with Jenny Lawton, well besides Jenny Lawton I suppose." Chloe asked him quietly.

"Good point." He groaned in frustration. "Are you ready Ms. Queen?" Oliver asked offering up his arm. The ceremony was over; the hard part as far as he was concerned. Now they just got to party.

"Do you think I'll ever stop looking behind me for someone else when you say that?" Chloe slid her arm through his, wondering if the smile was going to freeze on her face permanently but being too happy to care.

"Well it's only been about five minutes; it's still new to you. If you're still doing it in fifty years, then we'll have a problem." Oliver assured her.

"Fifty years huh?" Chloe asked looking up at him admiringly.

"Yeah, fifty years, eighty years. I'm in this thing for the long haul." Oliver kissed her. "You getting scared yet Sidekick?"

"I'm too happy to be scared today." Chloe laughed. "I'll worry about the future tomorrow. Right now I want some cake, I've been dreaming about that cake for six weeks."

"You know to get to the cake we've got to face the masses." Oliver warned her.

Chloe actually seemed to mentally debate this for a minute. She felt as if the two of them were in a sort of bubble, that the rest of the world had been shut out and it was just Chloe and Oliver. As soon as they opened those doors, the moment would pass, the spell would be broken, and the real world would come crashing back in a cacophony of camera flashes and people cheering. On the other hand, the cake was really good. "For the cake." Chloe turned to the doors.

"For the cake." Oliver nodded pushing the doors to the church open. They were instantly bombarded by paparazzi camera flashes. Handfuls of rose petals were thrown in the air and Chloe wasn't expecting them. The sudden beauty of those petals falling down in front of her made a perfect day even better and Chloe laughed as Oliver pulled her down the steps and toward the waiting limo.

Only Chloe never got her cake. Between the toasts and the meal and the pictures and Lisa planning the whole thing down to the very second, she didn't get a single bite, much less slice. She spent more time picking out the cake than she did anything else. She tasted twenty different flavors mixed with thirty different icings at seventeen different bakeries before finally settling on the perfect cake. A cake that she had tasted once at the bakery, dreamed of for months afterword and was honestly the only reason she bothered putting on the heavy gown and gone along with the whole wedding thing.

She was chatting with Henry Parker when she saw the caterers take the cake away to cut up and pass out to the guests and her mouth watered. She'd been assuring he and Simon that she was extremely happy for the both of them and enquiring with crossed fingers whether or not Henry had won Oliver and Chloe in the divorce. He had. She was sure they'd have much more fun at a dinner parties with Henry and Simon than with Sissy and hoped against hope that this wedding would be the last she'd see of the wretched woman.

When she excused herself from them and managed to get back to her seat, she realized that the caterers had neglected the bride when passing out cake slices. By the time she found someone to inform them of this egregious error, they'd already packed up the rest and stuck it in the back of a van somewhere. She sulked back to her table, hoping to use her status as the bride to obtain someone's cake only to realize that the cake was obviously just as good as she thought it was because everyone's plates were clean.

She saw Lois sliding her last bite onto her fork and practically crawled across the head table to get to her but she was too late and Chloe slammed her head onto the table, letting out a very unladylike groan. "You ok there?" Lois asked with a full mouth as she savored the last of her cake.

"I didn't get any cake." Chloe whined.

"Sissy Parker still has some." Dinah told her with an evil smirk. "Practically a whole slice."

"No." Chloe asked in horror and looked over to where, sure enough, Sissy Parker was distractedly picking at the piece of cake on her plate. "No." Chloe whined again, banging her head on the table a few more times before she finally took a deep breath and walked over to Mason. She slapped her hands on his coffee cart and he jumped to attention. She smiled, seeing that at some point he'd put up a sign that said "For the Bride Only".

"How can I help you?" Mason asked.

"I need something strong." Chloe told him.

"Double shot?" Mason raised his eyebrows.

"Triple." Chloe countered him narrowing her eyes.

"You sure about that?" He asked already readying the espresso grounds. "It's almost nine and you have an early flight in the morning."

Chloe looked over to Sissy Parker then nodded solemnly. "Hit me."

He fixed the drink and slid it over the top of his cart to her. She picked it up and shot it back in one sip, leaning against the counter at the sudden rush of caffeine. Mason offered her an encouraging smile and she turned to face Sissy Parker, determination and caffeine buzzing through her veins. "Sissy!" Chloe sat down. "I'm so sorry I haven't had a chance to come by and catch up with you."

"You've been avoiding me." Sissy glared at her.

"That's ridiculous, why would I be avoiding you?" Chloe scoffed,

"I don't know. Maybe because you purposely humiliated me by inviting my ex-husband and his…well you know to your wedding."

"That's not true." Chloe shook her head. "I had no idea that he and Simon were together. Also I sent the invitation out when you guys were still married." Chloe shut up that wasn't the important part. She _had_ actually been avoiding Sissy all day, but mostly because she was afraid she'd burst out laughing if she saw the bandage from the peacock bite. "I love your dress." She smiled brightly.

"Cut the crap Chloe. You don't like me, I don't like you, what do you want?"

"You don't like me?" Chloe pulled back slightly offended. "Why? I mean I know why I don't like you, but I'm almost positive that I've never given you a single reason not to like me." She scoffed. "I'm delightful, I'm-" She stopped at the look on Sissy's face, this was not helping. "I see you're not eating your cake."

"I'm trying to cut down on the sugar." Sissy said, what she really meant was that she was suddenly back on the market and ten years and twenty pounds heavier than the last time she was single. Chloe smiled.

"I'll take it off your hands for you if you want." Chloe offered and Sissy pulled the plate closer to her with a smile. Chloe narrowed her eyes. "Fine what do you want for the cake?"

"I want the hospital fundraiser back." Sissy told her.

"No way." Chloe shook her head. That was one of the only things that she liked about Oliver having his money back, that she was able to take the hospital fundraiser back from Sissy Parker. Sissy smiled and took a large bite of the cake, Chloe whimpered. "Ok." She said before Sissy could take another bite. "How about we co-chair the fundraiser this year and take it from there?"

"Co-chair?" Sissy shook her head. "And only get half the credit?"

"It's only half a piece of cake." Chloe pointed out to her.

Sissy thought for a second and smiled. "Deal." She slid the plate over and Chloe grabbed it greedily, jumping to her feet to go to the head table. Before she made it two feet, a couple who had likely had too much to drink from the open bar, bumped into her, dislodging the plate from her hands and sending it, and the cake, falling to the ground. "Oh, bad luck." Sissy stood up and walked away. "Guess I'll see you at the hospital?"

Chloe stared at the piece of smashed cake on the ground and then looked at the table next to her, specifically at the fork on the table next to her, then back at the cake. Her hands twitched slightly in the forks direction but Oliver caught her fingers before she could grab the utensil and pulled her toward him. "Don't even think about it." He laughed and she frowned.

"But…cake…" She whined as he pulled her to the dance floor, slowly making her forget about the cake or lack thereof.

She danced with Oliver for a while, then Bart, then Clark, and she had to sneak off to the balcony to get some air and a breather. "Oh sorry." She said, startling a man who was already standing out there. "I didn't mean to interrupt."

"You're not interrupting." He smiled at her. "You're the bride after all, you can go wherever you want."

"This is true." Chloe smiled. "I don't believe we've met." She walked further toward him.

"I'm Charles, a friend of Oliver's from work." He smiled. "Do you like magic?" He showed her his empty hands, wiggled his fingers distractingly and suddenly he was holding a single white tulip. "A lovely flower for a lovely woman." He smiled, slipping it behind her ear.

Before she could say "thank you"Chloe felt Oliver's hand on her elbow and she turned around. "Chloe." His voice was low and strange. "Lois is looking for you."

"Oh, I was just…" Chloe turned back to Charles.

"I think she's headed home, wanted to say goodbye."

"Right." Chloe smiled at Charles. "It was nice to meet you."

"You too." He said with a somewhat sad smile on his face that confused Chloe. As she walked inside she could have sworn she heard him say to Oliver, "It's a shame, she makes a lovely bride."

She turned around and stared out the doors, watching as Oliver and Charles got into a heated discussion. Before she could figure out what was going on Lois came up and wrapped an arm around Chloe's shoulder. "Chloe! I love you so much, you're like the sister I never had, but I had a sister, but she wasn't as awesome as you." She was drunk.

"Lois." Chloe laughed. "Let's find Clark and get you back to the hotel and in bed."

"I love Clark too." Lois smiled.

"I know honey." Chloe said, forgetting all about the strange scene on the balcony.

********

Chloe leaned her head against the seat cushion and pulled the tulip from behind her ear and spun it in her fingertips. "Oh, I never thanked you for the tulips." Chloe smiled at Oliver as they drove away from the reception hall.

"Tulips?" Oliver stiffened slightly.

"They were outside my door this morning." Chloe frowned. "They weren't from you?"

"No." He shook his head annoyed.

"I guess they were from Bart." Chloe smiled.

"Probably." Oliver nodded, his grip relaxing slightly on the steering wheel and Chloe looked out of the window. "This isn't the way home." She frowned. They had a eight o'clock flight the next morning to Morocco so they were staying at Oliver's parents in the country for the night.

"Very perceptive." Oliver smirked at her. "We're not going home."

"We're not?" Chloe turned to him. "Where are we going?" She tried to figure it out from the landmarks but it was late and she was tired and full of champagne and caffeine. It wasn't until they pulled up in front of the ratty door of the Stout Goat that she finally realized. "Oliver?" She asked confused as he helped her out of the car. "What are we doing here?"

"Look, you just sat through what was probably the most horrendous day of your life, all to please me and don't think I don't know that." He explained as they walked to the door. "I know you told me it didn't matter, that the ceremony was just one day and the marriage was a lifetime but I wanted something of this day for you to remember fondly."

"I'll never forget about Sissy Parker getting bit by a peacock." Chloe pointed out a smile on her face.

"Besides that." Oliver rolled his eyes and opened the door.

The first thing that hit her was the sound of John Lennon blasting through the speakers, "All You Need Is Love", their song. The second thing she noticed was that everyone was there. Every single person who had been there the night she proposed. Mary was smiling at her from behind the bar, Jake and Randy were standing by the pool table, obviously in the middle of a game and over in the corner, "Milo!" Chloe screamed in excitement and ran toward the rotund Russian hotdog vendor with unmitigated glee.

"Miss Chloe." He laughed his accent thick but happy. "I suppose now you are being Mrs. Chloe. Congratulations."

"Thank you." She smiled sheepishly at her own excitement over seeing the man but she hadn't had much time to make it down to her old part of town too often the past few months and she'd honestly missed him.

"That is some dress." A voice said from beside her. "Hope you're not planning on cutting this one up?"

Chloe turned; her smile couldn't possibly get bigger if she wanted it to. "Randy." She flung her arms around the man's shoulders. He was wearing a dress shirt that covered up his tattoos today and his hands were free of grease, Chloe knew he'd cleaned up just for her.

"Come on, don't hog the bride." Jake's amused laugh brought her attention to the man that she held personally responsible for this whole thing and Chloe made sure that he got an extra long hug for his troubles.

"Alright then." Mary called out from behind the bar. "Now that the guests of honor have arrived, let's get this party started. Drinks are on the house."

A cheer erupted and Chloe squealed as she was lifted onto Jake's shoulders and carried over to the bar, where she was immediately greeted with a cold bottle of beer and a warm hot dog. She looked over at Oliver, her eyes sparkling. This, as strange as it sounded, was the wedding she'd dreamed of.

*******

As the clock crept closer to two a.m. Chloe was looking around, hoping that Mason would pop out of the woodwork somewhere holding out a steaming cup of thick black coffee, but no such luck. She supposed he went home after the first reception, just like everyone else. "Tired?" Oliver came up behind her, wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her temple softly.

"I think I'm more….just happy." She beamed up at him, twisting her neck around so she could kiss him softly. "And a little tired."

"You ready to pack it in yet?" He raised his eyebrows.

"We've got a fourteen hour flight tomorrow, I can sleep then." She shook her head, enjoying herself far too much to go home now.

"Remember you said this in five hours when I'm trying to get you moving and you're calling me a jerk." He said pointedly and she laughed. "Seriously, this has been bugging me all day, who was it?"

"Who was what?" Chloe feigned ignorance.

"Who did you catch with Ethan?" Oliver begged her.

Chloe thought for a second. "Ok, how about this, one game of pool. You win, I tell you. I win and you leave your phone on the kitchen counter before we leave for the airport tomorrow."

"Which phone?" Oliver asked.

"Both." Chloe said.

"Is it worth it?" Oliver bit his bottom lip.

"Oh yeah." Chloe teased him and he sighed.

The need to be in constant contact with his secretary and members of the team, and through them the rest of the world, was significantly outweighed by the need to know who Ethan Patterson had been sleeping with. Oliver grabbed a pool cue, tossing it to Chloe with a smirk on his face, remembering the last time she'd played here, scratching on a pretty simple eight ball shot. "You can break." He offered her genially.

Chloe smiled and hiked up her skirt, severely tempted to cut it down to a more manageable size but at least having the sense to know that whether she liked it or not it was horribly expensive and she just couldn't bring herself to do it. She leaned over the edge of the table, lining up her shot, pulling back confidently on the cue and then slamming it forward. The force and the movement was controlled and precise and the cue ball hit the rack dead center, scattering the balls across the table, the two ball and the seven ball both sliding into a pocket.

Chloe stood up straight and Oliver narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously. "Jake's been giving me lessons." She said all nonchalant. "Did I forget to mention that?"

Oliver looked over at Jake who simply shrugged and then back at Chloe. "You just hustled me." He said in disbelief. "Your own husband."

"Now Oliver." Chloe walked over to him and straightened his tie. "You knew I was no good at pool, yet you didn't even blink when I suggested the game. You deserved to be hustled." She patted his chest patronizingly and turned back around to the table, lining up her next shot.

"So wait a minute. This was your Wednesday night book club?" He looked around the bar and shook his head. "I knew something was going on, you were in book club for months and not once did I see you open a book." He set down his pool cue and pulled his arms out of his jacket, tossing it uncaringly to the ground. Chloe sunk another ball and he unbuttoned his cuffs rolling up his sleeves. When she missed on her third shot, he smiled. It was on now.

One game had turned into best two out of three after Chloe sunk the Eight ball on her fifth shot and she'd given in, if only to give him a fighting chance. Oliver had won the second game but it looked like he might actually lose the third. He still had three balls on the table and Chloe was lining up her eight ball shot. "You know, if you scratch this time. It counts." Oliver whispered in her ear.

She turned her head slightly to glare at him. "Do you mind?" She asked and he backed away from the table. She took a deep breath, lined up her shot and took it. Oliver had the same feeling he'd had almost two years ago as he watched the cue ball make its way to the eight ball, only a lot less was on the line this time.

He sagged in defeat as the eight ball sailed smoothly down the felt and closed his eyes at the tell tale "thunk" when it hit the bottom of the pocket. Grudgingly he pulled two phones out of his pocket and slid them into Chloe's waiting outstretched hand, but smiling in spite of her victory because she hadn't said anything about his PDA.

Chloe tiredly said her goodbyes around four in the morning after Randy passed out on the bar. She vaguely recalled seeing Oliver and Jake engaged in a heated hushed conversation, wondering why Oliver had chosen today of all days to get into fights with his friends, before she slid into the squishy front seat of the car and dozed off.

She woke up when Oliver took one of the sharper corners down the country road. Chloe wanted desperately to take a shower and a nap. She knew when they got to the house, she'd only have time to change her clothes and grab her bags. If she was lucky, their housekeeper Rita would be there and she'd make Chloe a thermos of coffee to hold her over until they boarded their flight.

She sighed, if they could get through all that, they'd have two blissful weeks alone on a private beach in Morocco. After scouring every continent she finally found a beach that looked as if it were conjured straight from her dreams and instantly booked the trip. Her good mood was shattered when she realized that as soon as they got back, she'd have to start on the hospital fundraiser, with Sissy Parker.

"It's all your fault you know." Chloe turned to Oliver trying to suppress a yawn.

"What is?"

"Sissy Parker." Chloe mumbled no longer able to suppress said yawn.

Oliver chanced a glance at her. "What exactly is going on in your sleep deprived head right now?"

"Not only did I not get any cake, but now I have to spend an inordinate amount of time with that insufferable woman while she attempts to sabotage my hospital fundraiser." Chloe turned her attention to Oliver and glared.

"How is that my fault?" He raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"If you hadn't smashed the cake in my face, like I asked you not to, I would have gotten at least a bite and never would have been desperate enough to make that deal." Chloe reminded him.

"It's a tradition." Oliver laughed. "And you smashed the cake in my face too."

"In retaliation only." Chloe defended herself.

"Ok, fine. I was going to wait until we got home, but seeing as how this is our wedding night, I'd rather not have you in a foul mood." He sighed. "Blue box, back seat."

Chloe reached in the back and grabbed the blue box cautiously. She opened it and stared before breaking out into a face splitting grin. There, nestled in a safety of the blue cardboard box, smelling of sugar and butter cream was a perfect piece of cake. Chloe leaned over the middle console and grabbed Oliver's face kissing him passionately. "You are so getting lucky tonight." She whispered as he tried his hardest to pay attention to the road.

"That was actually in question?" He asked incredulous. "On our wedding night?"

"Probably not. You were kind of awesome today." Chloe said leaning back to her seat but leaving her fingers on the back of Oliver's neck, lightly playing in his hair. "Mason, the second reception, now the cake. I think it's safe to say you're getting lucky for the next five years or so."

"Is that so?" Oliver turned to her. "So wait, your saying that for the next five years or so I can basically do no wrong?"

"No." Chloe laughed. "I'm saying that as long as you don't say something stupid or do something stupid, or….you know what the chances of that are pretty slim, so I can probably only guarantee tonight."

"Not like we'll have time before we have to go to the airport." Oliver grumbled.

Chloe smiled devilishly. "We could always join the mile high club."

Oliver laughed as they rounded the corner. Chloe saw the car in the middle of the road and screamed. Saw the man, casually leaning up against the driver's side door, smoking a cigarette as if he weren't blocking the entire roadway, not nearly far enough away for Oliver to stop in time. He jerked the wheel to the left but over compensated for the turn and broke too hard. She felt the car go airborne and then they were upside down. Her head slammed into the back of the seat cushion and then she saw nothing.

******

"Chloe, open your eyes, look at me." Oliver screamed, hands on either side of her face and her eyes shot open. He looked relieved, he looked scared, he looked…upside down.

"Oliver?" Chloe asked, fear creeping into her voice when she realized that he wasn't upside down, she was the one upside down. She clutched onto the handle of the car door, her knuckles white. "Why am I upside down?" Her voice was shaking.

"The car flipped a few times I think." He shook his head and reached around her, groping for the seatbelt.

"Taking liberties before the honeymoon?" Chloe laughed then coughed. "I thought you were a gentleman."

"I'm looking for the seatbelt." Oliver said. "To get you out of here, unless you want to stay upside down."

His hands fumbled again and that's when Chloe saw it, the blood rushing, flowing out of a cut on his scalp. "You're bleeding."

"It's nothing." Oliver said more worried about her. He'd noticed the glass sticking out of her leg.

"Come here." Chloe grabbed at the top layer of her skirt and reached for his head.

"You'll ruin your dress." Oliver moved away from her, blinking rapidly. Chloe knew that look, that meant concussion, that meant quite a bit of blood loss.

"Right." Chloe snorted. "I think that's a lost cause at this point." She pressed the fabric against his skull and he winced. "There was another car right? It ran us off the road." She asked quietly. "I didn't imagine that?"

"There was." Oliver nodded. "That's why we're not waiting around patiently for the ambulance." He finally found the seatbelt and pressed the button hard but it didn't budge. "Shit, it's jammed."

"You know who they are?" Chloe looked down at him. He stopped and looked up at her before nodding once. "Oliver." Chloe said confused and afraid.

"I was going to tell you." Oliver said reaching around for a large enough piece of glass to cut the belt with. "I just didn't know how."

"Tell me what?" Chloe asked him and he ignored her. She dropped the fabric and grabbed his chin, turning his head to face her. "Tell me what?"

"We don't have time for this." Oliver tore his face away from hers. "We've got to get out of here."

"A bit late for that I'm afraid." A voice said from outside the car, a man, with a British accent. Chloe looked behind Oliver and saw three different sets of shoes.

"Oliver go." Chloe whispered and he shook his head forcefully. "Leave me here and just go." Chloe tried to push him away.

"Oh he's not going anywhere love." The man said. "Grab him."

"No." Chloe reached out for Oliver's arm as two of the pairs of shoes moved closer. Four sets of hands reached down and grabbed Oliver's ankles, roughly pulling him from the car. "Oliver."

"Chloe!" He screamed for her.

She frantically tried to release the seatbelt, pushing down on the button with all the strength she had left in her body but it was jammed tight. "Oliver!" Chloe screamed at the noises outside the car. She knew what a fight sounded like and that was a fight. "Oliver." Chloe screamed harder, tears rolling down her face.

"Ms. Queen?" The British man asked from Chloe's broken window. "Ms. Queen, I need you to stop screaming." She didn't listen, continued yelling for Oliver. "Ms. Queen, stop screaming or I'll shoot your husband." Chloe shut up abruptly and turned her head to the window, breathing heavily, glaring at the man who had the audacity to smile at her. "Much better, thank you."

"Fuck you." Chloe snarled at him.

"That's not very polite is it?" He asked with amusement.

"You ran me off the road on my wedding night. It sounds like your torturing my husband, and I'm stuck upside down in this car, in my wedding dress. I apologize if I'm not being polite." Chloe snarled at him.

"Apology accepted." He said either dismissing her sarcasm or choosing to ignore it.

"What do you want?" Chloe asked. "Do you work for Lex?"

"Lex?" He scoffed. "Lex Luther?" He outright laughed at the insinuation. "This is a lot bigger than him I'm afraid."

Chloe had to stop and think at that. Something that was bigger than Lex, that was never a good thing. "What do you want from us?"

"From you?" He shook his head. "Nothing. From your husband, quite a bit I'm afraid." He stood up and said something that Chloe couldn't make out, then she heard a horrible crack, that she knew was a bone breaking and then Oliver's wrenching scream. The man crouched down again and looked at her. "I do apologize. I didn't agree with doing this on your wedding night. I wanted to at least give you your honeymoon but orders are orders."

Chloe glared and spit in his face. "When I get out of here I'm going to kill you."

He wiped the spit out of his eye and turned to her, his good humor now gone. "Your husband has information that we desperately need. We're going to do whatever it takes to get that information out of him. We're very good at our jobs and by the time we are finished with him, he will beg for death." Chloe let out a strangled sob. "And we will grant his wish." He looked over at her one last time, the blood stain on her thigh now evident and smiled. "Congratulations." He said before getting up and walking away. "Shot him, in the leg, just enough so he can't run, then put him in the car."

"Oliver!" Chloe screamed again as she heard the gunshot and another scream and then nothing. He'd probably passed out from the pain. She had to tell herself that he'd passed out from the pain because the other option was unthinkable.

"What about his wife?" Another voice, a rough voice, asked and Chloe moved her head, tears streaming down her face, listening intently, staring at the men's shoes. She had to keep her eyes on the shoes because if she looked in the other direction she would see the seemingly lifeless body of Oliver being dragged away.

"She'll bleed out in a few hours." The British man said. "Leave her. It makes for a better story."

Chloe dug through the folds of her skirt and felt the large piece of glass that was stuck in her thigh. She braced herself, bit her lip to keep from crying out and pulled it free. The pain was intense, so very intense but she couldn't think about that, Oliver was in trouble, they were going to kill him and she needed help. With shaky hands she used the piece of glass to slice through the seatbelt. She realized she hadn't thought the whole thing through when she managed to cut it and fell hard to the roof of the car, landing painfully wrong on her left wrist before pulling herself out.

She stood, walked a few feet then stumbled, her leg not ready to support her weight. As she lay on the ground and stared at the carnage around her, the totaled car, the pool of blood a few feet away that she knew was Oliver's. Something in her snapped. Her brain just stopped and everything was quiet, blissfully quiet.

She laid there for a minute confused before pulling herself to her feet again. She didn't know where she was, she didn't remember what happened but she knew that something was wrong. She knew she needed to get help. She needed to find a police station. The only thing that she could focus on was a voice in her head saying over and over, "In case of emergency, contact the police." So she started walking.

* * *

Author's Note: Sorry it took so long to update. Hope the length of the chapter makes up for the long wait. Enjoy


	6. Chapter 6

Everyone was silent when Chloe finished telling the story. "Well that explains why you were on Highway 34." Lois said quietly. Despite the seriousness of the story that Chloe had just told, she was still slightly miffed at not being invited to the second reception.

"Wait a minute." Bart shook his head. "There was no bullet casing at the scene. I found the car, Oliver's necklace, I definitely saw the blood, but I would have remembered a shell casing."

"They could have come back." Wise said and everyone turned to him. "To clean up the scene." They all stared, unblinking and he continued quickly. "They expected Chloe to die and the guy, the Brit said something about it being a good story. So they were probably going to use the accident to cover up Oliver's death too…kind of hard when there's a bullet casing at the scene."

"Man has a point." Victor said thinking seriously about the theory.

"What I don't get is…" Lois never got to finish because a uniform poked his head in the room and searched out Mia.

"We've got a problem, turn the TV to channel five." He ducked out again before anyone could ask any questions and AC scrambled to the television in the corner. They didn't have to tune into to channel though five because it was breaking news and everyone was playing it.

_"Again this was the scene out in the desert that police and rescue workers stumbled upon in the early morning hours, the car, the wreckage, has been identified as an SUV belonging to Oliver Queen, the head of Queen Industries. Authorities believe the accident occurred sometime between four and five this morning which would put it a mere hours after Mr. Queen's wedding to longtime girlfriend Chloe Sullivan."_ A woman reporter was saying, Chloe thought her name was Madeline.

"What authorities?" Mia asked loudly. "Who's talking to these people?" She was unceremoniously shushed while everyone tried to pay attention.

Coverage switched to a man who was live at the crash site. _"Reports coming in now are that Chloe Queen managed to extract herself from the wreckage somehow and walked the three miles back to town, stumbling into the police station around eight in the morning. Eyewitness claim that she appeared to be in complete shock, going so far as to say that she didn't even know who she was or what had happened."_

_"The grisly photos which were anonymously sent to the station this afternoon show Ms. Queen after the accident."_ Madeline shook her head as the pictures were flung onto the screen and Chloe gasped before she could stop herself.

"Is that what I looked like?" She asked slowly moving closer to the television. There was a shot of her walking down the steps, walking into the lobby, her dress a bloody mess, and then one of her lying on the couch, Clark beside her, comforting her, whispering something to her. Her eyes were vacant, staring off into nothing and Chloe realized finally the hell that she'd put the others through this morning.

_"It's chilling." The man said visibly wincing at the sight. "Although they say she managed to walk away with only a few minor injuries which is something to be thankful for."_

_"Too right Tom. There are many questions that will be asked today. How did a day that started off so beautifully, so hopefully end in such tragedy?" The woman asked as they split the screen. On the right side the picture of Chloe and Oliver laughing as they exited the church, on the left Chloe in her bloodstained gown. "What caused the accident? But most of all, the question on everyone's mind right now is…where is Oliver Queen."_

"Wise I want you to get me whoever is supposed to be handling the department's PR on this and I want them in here two hours ago." Mia said, her voice low and calm but betraying a slightly boiling anger. "I also what to know how the hell they got those pictures of Chloe, that wasn't some passerby with a cell phone camera, those were taken from inside the station, pulled from the security feed. They were taken by one of us and I want to know who."

"I'm on it." Wise nodded filing out of the room.

"Chloe?" Mia turned to her. "Are you…how are you…"

"Fine." Chloe said with no emotion. "I'm fine, it was strange seeing the car but…so it's out now." She said. "I mean there's no more hiding it. What does that mean?"

"It means we're going to have to give a formal statement, which is going to be difficult because we don't have much more to give them." Mia sighed. "I'm not going to lie, in ways it's going to make things harder. We're going to get slammed by the press. We'll be inundated with calls from the public claiming to know where Oliver is and we're going to waste a lot of time chasing down bogus leads. Then again it could help us. There's the off chance that we could get a real tip that might lead us to him."

"How big a chance?" Chloe asked.

"Not that big." Mia admitted.

*********

The coverage continued nonstop for the next hour and half, not that they had anything new to report. Not that it seem to bother them in the slightest, because they'd taken to just making shit up. "Now they've got me committed to a state mental institution out of fears that I'm suicidal." Chloe screamed at the PR girl when she finally walked in the room.

"I'm sorry." The girl froze like a deer in headlights, clutching a pile of folders to her chest and Chloe wondered how she ever managed to get up behind a podium in front of hundreds of cameras and give her statements.

"I'm not suicidal." Chloe said.

"Yes, ok." The woman blinked stupidly. "I'm Nicole, I'm the department's press liaison assigned to this case."

"So then you're the dumbass who decided to release this to the press and start this shit storm?" Mia snapped.

"Uh, no." She was struggling under the weight of her folders and Bart stepped forward, taking pity on her and relieving her of her burden. "Up until an hour ago our official position to the press was that we had no official position because well…no one even knew about it."

"Well they know now." Lois snapped.

"Yeah, that kind of caught us off guard." Nicole admitted in a way that was conveying a very sheepish "oops, my bad".

"So you have no idea who leaked it?" Wise asked her.

"No." Nicole shook her head furiously. "Do you?" She asked hopefully, her eyes wide and Wise just stared at her in disbelief. "That was a joke, jeez." She shook her head.

"I'm sorry, how old are you?" Lois crossed her arms over her chest.

"Twenty four." Nicole said with no shame. "How old are you?" She lifted an eyebrow and Lois just glared harder.

"She's a child." Lois said to Mia instead of answering the question. "I want someone older, someone more experienced, someone who doesn't look like mommy picked out her big girl clothes for the first day of school."

"That was mean and hurtful." Nicole frowned looking down at her suit. "You have no idea of my qualifications for this job, my experience or lack thereof. Point of interest however, my mother actually did pick out this suit." She reached for her files and started flipping through them as Lois made a "is she for real" expression. "I'm going to be making a formal statement in a minute, there's just a few things I need to go over with you.

"Ok." Chloe nodded.

"Right so just to clarify, do you have any plans to become institutionalized or are you in any danger of committing suicide?" Nicole asked digging through her bag until she emerged triumphantly with a pen.

"Uh, no." Chloe shook her head.

"Right good, that's good, I can use that." Nicole offered her a smile of encouragement as she wrote that down, then proceeded to ask her more and more questions about the crash, from the important, to the inane to the completely irrelevant. "What song was playing on the radio?" (The Stone's, _Sympathy for the Devil_ which Chloe found aptly appropriate when they were talking about Sissy Parker), "Where you wearing your seatbelt?" (Yes), "Who designed your wedding dress?" (Imogene Rolston).

After Nicole finished Chloe was still in a state of mild disbelief as she walked out of the room. "Oh just one more thing." Nicole turned around. "Did you kill your husband Ms. Queen?"

"No!" Chloe said in astonishment.

"Do you know where he is?" Nicole asked her. "Were you in anyway involved in this?"

"That's completely in appropriate." Bart snapped at her.

"Mrs. Queen?" Nicole raised an eyebrow.

"No." Chloe said through gritted teeth.

"Great." She said, heaving a huge sigh of relief. "Sorry to spring it on you but I find that people tell the truth when surprised. They are definitely going to ask me if you're a person of interest in the case and I'm much more believable if I actually believe what I'm telling them."

"Right." Chloe shook her head as Nicole grabbed the door knob but didn't leave. "You ok?"

"Wow. I know I was a bit snotty earlier when she asked me my age but, this is actually my first press conference." She smiled brightly. "Wish me luck?" She crossed her fingers before walking outside.

"I…" Lois paused. "I truly have no words to describe…"

"Was any of that stuff remotely important?" Dinah asked. "I mean besides asking you if you killed him." All eyes turned to Dinah. "For someone who doesn't know you it's a perfectly reasonable question." Dinah argued.

"They'll ask, they'll ask all those things and more." Lois said. "Reporters have this strange urge for details no matter how seemingly insignificant."

"She's on." AC turned up the television as Nicole walked onscreen into the makeshift press room and Lois bit her bottom lip.

"They are going to eat her alive." She shook her head in eager anticipation. "I'm almost sorry I'm not out there to participate."

_"I'll give a brief statement and then take some of your questions." She flipped through her ever present file folders and Chloe wondered what the hell she was looking for. She patted her pockets before pulling out a pair of glasses and then started to read. "At approximately 4:28 a.m. an SUV being driven by Oliver Queen containing himself and his new bride was forced off of Highway 34 at mile marker 423. The vehicle flipped two or three times before coming to a stop upside down at the bottom of the hill." She coughed softly. "Mr. and Mrs. Queen both sustained injuries from the crash but none that were life threatening. Before they could get free of the wreckage, four unidentified men pulled Mr. Queen out of the car and took him away." Chloe almost couldn't watch it. Nicole was so technical, so clinical about the whole thing. "We believe the intention of the kidnappers was to leave Ms. Queen to die alone so that no one would have been aware of their crime but at 8:03 a.m. Ms. Queen entered the Seventh Street Star City Police Department and informed us of the events that had transpired." She took off her glasses and looked up into the crowd of reporters. "I'll take your questions now." She nodded to a reporter in the front row._

_"Do the police believe that Ms. Queen was in anyway involved in the accident and subsequent kidnapping of her new husband?"_

"Wow they go for the gut right off the bat." Victor winced.

_"No." Nicole nodded at someone in the third row but the reporter in the front wasn't letting her off that easy._

_"Wait, would you care to elaborate on that?"_

_Nicole paused for a minute, as if thinking about it. "No." Nicole nodded again at the third row reporter._

_"Really? That's all you're going to give me?" The woman scoffed. "Come on, the woman married a multi-billionaire and eight hours later he's missing presumed dead and you're telling me that the SCPD don't think she had anything to do with it?"_

_"First off, he's not "presumed" anything. For the moment his status is simply missing and I'd like to remind everyone here of the whole "Tanya Lawson" debacle last year and suggest we all refrain from jumping to unsubstantiated conclusions."_

"Tanya Lawson?" Clark asked confused.

"She was a co-ed from Star City University. Didn't come home after a night of partying to hard. The press caught wind of the story and turned it into three ring circus dragging out all of her ex-boyfriends, had the police by the short hairs demanding they find her." Mia said. "Over four hundred man hours, hundreds of thousands of dollars in crime scene lab fee's, running prints and DNA tests for every man she'd ever even passed on the street, and Tanya comes home for an impromptu vacation in the Caribbean with a few friends she met while clubbing with no idea that she was the new face on the milk carton."

"Wow." Lois laughed. "Bet it sucked to be you then."

"I remember that, the press got slammed for their role in escalating the whole thing." Chloe said.

_"That's not fair Nicole." The reporter was not letting it go. "I'm just doing my job here, give me something. Why don't you think she had anything to do with it?"_

_"Why?" Nicole turned and glared. "Chloe Queen, still wearing the wedding dress that she was married in, was in a horrific car accident , pinned to her seat and forced to listen as her husband of a scant eight hours was torn from her and tortured. She somehow managed to keep her wits about her long enough to tear herself free, walk three miles with a six inch gash in her thigh and a broken wrist to the police station to get help. She was so traumatized by these events that when she got here she didn't know her own name, couldn't face what happened to her long enough to tell us and still hasn't allowed herself to be properly looked over by a doctor to asses all the damage she's actually sustained and you want to ask me why I don't think she had anything to do with this? Because she's just got that look that makes her seem innocent. Jesus Christ Rita, as me something important would you?" Nicole once more nodded at the reporter in the third row._

"Huh." Lois said. "She's pretty good."

_"Do we have any sort of description on the men at the scene?"_

_"She never saw them. We recovered tire tracks that we're investigating now which may or may not belong to the vehicle. The car itself was described by Mrs. Queen as a dark colored, possibly black, blue or green Cadillac SUV, possibly an Escalade, relatively new. No license plate number."_

"Those tire tracks belong to an Infinity G3 by the way." Victor sighed. "So no dice there."

"Well I'm pretty sure it was black." Chloe sighed. "Maybe blue…it could have been green."

_"We've received reports that Mr. Queen was not wearing his seatbelt and was thrown through the windshield." Another reporter called out. "Is there any truth to that?" Everyone seemed surprised that they actually asked that question._

_"Reports from whom exactly? As a matter of fact they were both wearing their seatbelts. I also just want to make it very clear, from this point on, the only person you quote regarding this accident or this investigation is me. There will be no more unsubstantiated rumors or reports received from friends of neighbors who had second cousins that drove somewhere near the crash site this morning understood?"_

There was a low murmur of consent as she took more questions. To everyone's surprise they didn't actually ask what song was playing on the radio but they did ask if they were listening to the radio. Most of the questions were even more inane than the ones that Nicole asked Chloe. She handled each of them with confidence more often than not answering with a simple yes or no and leaving no room for interpretation. Nicole called for the last three questions and AC turned Lois. "They're not gonna ask."

_"Do you anticipate the need to bring the FBI in on the case?"_

_"No." Nicole said nodding to the second to last reporter._

"They're gonna ask." Lois smirked.

_"Where is Ms. Queen now?"_

_"She's at the police station and that's where she will remain for the foreseeable future." Nicole said._

"Wait for it." Lois smirked.

_"Who designed Mrs. Queen's wedding gown?"_

_"Imogene Rolston." Nicole gathered up her papers and walked away even as the press shouted more questions at her._

"I told you." Lois held out her hand and AC grumbled as he passed over twenty bucks.

"Why? Why would they need to know that?" He asked.

"How did it go?" Nicole slipped back into the room a huge smile on her face. "I think it went good. I should have called my mom and told her to tape it. That was my first time on television."

"You did great." Chloe assured her, patting the woman on her back.

"I thought I was a little rough on the guy in the seventh row but honestly …" She trailed off as a strange muffled ringing filled the room.

Everyone patted their pockets checking and discarding their cell phones, no one was calling them. "My bag." Chloe looked around the room. "Bart did you bring my black bag?"

"Yeah." He rummaged around the floor by the table and came up with a small black duffel bag, tossing it to Chloe. It was obvious to everyone now that this is where the ringing was coming from and Chloe's hands shakily ripped the zipper open. The phone that was in that bag was used only for JLA purposes. The only people who had that number were standing in the room with her, and Oliver. She pulled it out, almost dropping it twice before finally managing to answer it. "Oliver!" She asked hopefully, frantically and Mia and Wise jumped to attention.

A smooth British accent floated through the line chilling Chloe's blood. "Ms. Queen, how lovely to hear your voice again." She snapped at Mia who grabbed the landline and pushed a button.

"Yes I need a trace on a phone call right now." She looked over at Bart. "The number is…" He grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled it quickly passing it to her and she relayed the number to the operator then sat waiting.

"I'm sorry I can't say the same thing to you." She swallowed hard, willing herself not to throw up all over the place. She covered the receiver with her hand. "Victor?"

"I'm already on it." He said typing rapidly on Chloe's computer.

"You're making my life extremely difficult today, did you know that?" The man sounded bored, slightly resigned.

"Well you're not exactly making my life one big picnic." She snapped at him.

"It's bouncing all over the place, they'll never get a lock." Mia said exhausted and frustrated.

"They don't have my kit." Victor smirked.

"I suppose I'm not." He laughed and Chloe wanted to reach through the phone and strangle him. "You see, you've put me in a most difficult position here. No one was supposed to know the Oliver had been taken."

"Sorry." Chloe said obviously not.

"Yes, quite." The man grunted. "Unfortunately you've created quite a stir what with the police and the investigation. I'm afraid it's become in my best interest to offer you a deal."

"A deal?" Chloe asked. Mia passed the phone to Wise and walked over as Chloe put her phone on speaker so everyone could hear. "What kind of deal?"

"A trade." He said. "With all the attention you've drawn to yourself I believe it would behoove me to run for the boarder as it were."

Bart turned to AC and mouthed "Behoove?" with an amused expression and AC tried not to laugh.

"Money?" Chloe snorted. "You want money."

"I want a lot of money." He told her. "I think it's quite fair. I give you your precious husband back and you can finish what you started, have your Moroccan honeymoon and all you have to do is finance my way out of the country."

"And just how much is this little trip going to cost?" Chloe asked.

"A hundred million."

"Done." Chloe said without even thinking and Lois actually sucked in a breath.

"Excellent, I'll be in touch with the details luv." She could hear him smiling on the other end.

"Wait, I'm gonna need something from you first." Chloe said. "I want to talk to Oliver. I need to know he's alive, that he's safe."

"You don't trust me?" He pouted.

"No." Chloe shook her head. "I believe not five hours ago you told me your intention was to kill my husband, I'm not going to pay you a hundred million dollars for a corpse." Again she could feel the bile rise up in the back of her throat as the man chuckled.

"Very well." She heard the unmistakable sound of tape being ripped off of human flesh, followed by a grunt of pain. "You're wife wishes to speak to you."

"Chloe?" Oliver asked hesitantly and she fell to the floor, her legs suddenly and inexplicably made of rubber.

"Oliver?" She whispered then sucked in the first real breath she'd taken all day. Suddenly she had no idea what to say to him. "We missed our flight."

"Sorry about that, I was unavoidably detained." Chloe let out a bark of laughter that turned and mutated at the last minute into a strangled sob. "Hey, hey, I'm fine, I'm ok. The accommodations aren't what I'm used to but I've gotten by in worse. "

She tried her best to stem the tide that she knew was coming because she was sure once she allowed herself to cry to actually have a good proper cry she wouldn't be able to stop it. "I know, I know and I'm going to get you back, I promise."

"I know." Oliver said. "I trust you."

"I may have to sell your car again but I'm going to get you back." Chloe promised him.

"I hate that car, it's a stupid car." Oliver said and it sounded like he was practically on the edge of tears as well. "Besides, remember what Lennon said."

"Right." Chloe breathed out deeply, calming herself. "I love you."

"I love you too." Oliver called to her as the phone was pulled away.

"Happy now?"

"Oh, I'm not going to be happy until I've sliced off your testicles with a dull blade and fed them to a half starved rabid dog while you're forced to watch."

"Such imagery, perhaps you should have stuck to reporting. One hundred million. I'll give you five hours to get the money together and I'm not a monster Mrs. Queen. I won't expect it all in cash. I do take bonds as well." He hung up the phone and Lois crouched down next to Chloe who's breath was coming faster and faster. Wise shook his head and hung up the phone.

"They couldn't get it." He sighed.

"Victor?" She asked hopefully.

"Nothing." He glared at the computer screen as if it was to blame. "This guy covered his tracks."

"Here." Mason knelt down and she hesitated, her nerves were already frazzled enough as it was. "It's tea." He smiled as if reading her mind and she took the cup. When she sipped the hot liquid it somehow managed to help her stop the breakdown that she knew at some point she was going to have to have. But now she just didn't have time.

"Thank you."

"A hundred million dollars?" Lois asked. "How the hell are you going to get a hundred million dollars?"

"There's ten in the safety deposit box in the bank." Chloe said mentally adding up all of their liquid assets as she dialed a number. "I could probably find another twenty or so between Queen Industries and Star Labs."

"That still leaves you with seventy million dollars to find and only five hours to do it." Clark frowned.

"That's why God invented accountants." Chloe smiled. "Arthur, Chloe Queen…yes it's a terrible situation I appreciate your thoughts. Listen, how much cash can you get your hands on in the next five hours?" She pulled herself to her feet and paced the room.

"What's up?" Wise asked Mia who seemed to be deep in thought.

"Something doesn't add up here." She shook her head. "I mean he told Chloe he wanted information, information that he was willing to kill for and now when there's a little pressure he's ready to make a deal?"

"He got spooked. Chloe was supposed to die, no one was going to know. Now there's a task force and search parties. He's cutting his losses." Wise offered.

"No, that doesn't feel right." Mia frowned as Chloe hung up the phone.

"She's right." Chloe tossed the phone to Bart who slipped it in his pocket. "He's not planning on giving me Oliver. He's not even planning on taking the money."

"Then why ask for it?" Wise asked.

"Because if he suddenly makes it about money than this becomes a random crime and the police stop searching for a deeper connection." Chloe said. "Which means we don't stop searching." She looked pointedly at her team and they all sat back down at the table and resumed their search through Oliver's files.

"So then why are you getting the money ready?" Mia asked her.

"Because maybe I'm wrong and maybe this is about the money and if I have to spend a hundred million dollars to get my husband back I will." Chloe sat down at her computer and resumed her search.

"There's one thing I don't get." Victor paused. "What did he mean when he told you, 'Remember what Lennon said'?"

"You can't make a revolution in white gloves?" Lois offered with a frown.

"Not Vladimir Lenin." Chloe shook her head. "John Lennon."

"Oh." Lois blushed sheepishly.

"Well what did he say?" Bart asked confused.

"All you need is love." Chloe smiled.

*********************

Chloe wasn't sure who started it, the humming. By the time she realized it was happening the whole room had joined in. It seemed that almost everyone noticed at the same time because suddenly it came to a screeching halt. They all looked up at each other, sheepish smiles on their faces and went back to their work, but still Chloe couldn't seem to get the song out of her head. It didn't hurt that someone had started singing. "Love, love, love." She heard Lois intone just loud enough that everyone could hear her. "Love, love, love." She continued, almost as if she was unaware she was singing these words out loud.

"There's nothing you can do that can't be done." Chloe turned to see AC singing along to the song that was now in everyone's head. The look he gave her was unabashed, almost a sort of "if you can't beat 'em join 'em".

"Nothing you can sing that can't be sung." Victor chimed in.

"Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game." Bart picked the song up, his voice carrying much louder than the others and they all stopped for a minute, staring at each other uneasily.

"It's easy." Chloe chimed in.

That seemed to break the spell and soon everyone had joined in, singing louder, more openly as they discarded files and flipped through stacks of papers. "Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time, it's easy." They all sang together, gearing up for the chorus. "All you need is love!" They all laughed, feeling for the first time as if this could be just any other normal day at the office, goofing off with each other. "All you need is love." Feeling for just one minute that everything was going to be ok.

"There's nothing you can know that isn't known." Dinah said tossing a file to Victor.

"Nothing you can see that isn't shown." Victor shot back at her shaking his head and discarding the file behind him.

"Nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be." Lois got up and walked over to Mason to grab another cup of coffee.

"It's easy." Everyone called out again, about to launch into the chorus when something suddenly occurred to Chloe.

"All you need is-"

"Stop." She held up her hands and everyone froze. Something had triggered in her brain, a misfired synapse or a memory long forgotten and if she didn't grasp for it, she would lose it. "Back up." She said to Lois who suddenly looked very self-conscious.

"Huh?" Lois asked confused.

"That last line…sing it again." Chloe said urgently.

Lois looked around at all the confused and expectant faces and strangely enough felt something akin to stage fright. "Uh…nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be?" Lois sang slightly shaky and a bit off key but Chloe didn't care about that.

"What?" Dinah was standing now, watching Chloe with intensity. She didn't always agree with her boss, she didn't always understand her boss, but she trusted her, trusted her instincts, trusted her feelings.

"Nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be?" Chloe looked around.

"You think…" Dinah trailed off, collecting her thoughts and Victor took over for her.

"You think it was a message?" Victor said suddenly. "You think Oliver was trying to tell you something?"

"Maybe, I don't know." Chloe said. "I love Oliver and I have no doubt that he loves me but you guys know that if it came down to giving us a clue or reassuring me through the use of a sappy love song…"

"He'd totally give you a clue." AC caught on.

"But what then?" Dinah looked around. "He's telling you he's where he's meant to be? But he's been kidnapped."

"I think…" Chloe looked around the room a slow smile spreading across her face. "I think he's telling us that _we're _where we're meant to be."

"We're meant to be here?" AC asked dubiously.

"Like here in this room?" Clark chimed in.

"No, here in the police station." Chloe grabbed for her computer and started typing.

"Ok, so we're supposed to be at the police station." Bart said. "But why?"

"What does a police station have?" Chloe asked him, her eyes not moving from the screen in front of her.

"Cops." Lois said confused.

"Donuts." Bart smiled picking at the lemon custard filled pastry in front of him.

"Information." Chloe breathed out in astonishment as something popped up on her screen. She turned slowly toward Wise and Mia. "Did you know that there is currently an ongoing investigation in the SCPD in which my husband is listed as the prime suspect?"

"What!" The surprise exclamation came out of every mouth at practically the same time, creating a strange echo effect in the room. Everyone huddled around Chloe's computer screen.

"Hey!" Mia grabbed the laptop and pulled it toward her. "That's our internal server, how the hell did you get in there?"

Chloe looked up at her sheepishly. "I need to see that file."

"No!" Mia backed up and stared down the legion of glares she was receiving from all those assembled. "Look, I think I may have indulged you too much. You went through a rather traumatic experience and I thought that maybe this…" She motioned to Chloe's makeshift command center. "I thought this might help you but it's got to stop. This is an official police investigation in which you are a witness, not a…participant. You can't just hack into our system and request confidential-"

"Here." Bart was shoving a file in Chloe's hand and Mia cut off her tirade to see that it was the hard copy of the file Chloe found online.

"How did you get that?" Mia moved forward but AC and Victor stepped up in a way that was both completely non threatening but still kept her from going further. "When did you even leave the room?" She sputtered as Bart offered her a roguish wink.

"What does it say?" Lois asked as Chloe flipped through page after page, picture after picture. They were all grainy, all black and white and all included Oliver. In most of them he was with a large group of men that Chloe had never seen before in her life. Some of them were taken at one of Star Lab's shipping warehouses and showed Oliver taking an envelope from someone and then supervising him load up a truck.

"I don't…" Chloe said, devouring the pictures, faster and faster. Oliver at a restaurant, Oliver walking into a place called the Luna Rossa, Oliver in a strip club (they were definitely talking about that), Oliver with a man who was gripping either side of his face, but not in a threatening way. A man who looked awfully familiar, she knew him, but she couldn't place him.

She passed the file off to Lois who scrambled to understand what was going on as words swirled around in Chloe's head, words that had littered the reports but Chloe couldn't seem to make sense, couldn't figure out how they fit into her world. Words like "inconsistent financial reports", "suspicious behavior", and "known Mob establishment". All of those pictures had been taken in the last year. Chloe knew that because in every single one Oliver had been wearing his necklace but how could she not have known, not have seen this?

"The Mob?" Lois screamed, finally having gotten to the crux of the investigation. "Hold on, wait a minute here. You people can't actually be stupid enough to think that Oliver, Oliver Queen has anything to do with the Mob?" Lois glared at Mia who said nothing but held her hand out for the file.

When Lois said it like that it seemed even more ridiculous, because it was ridiculous. Oliver was the Green Arrow, the man who spent his life using every resource available at his disposal to search out and correct injustice and fight against those very people that they were accusing him of working with. It was more than ridiculous. As far as Chloe was concerned it was like, if Aristotle had come back from the dead, seen all the newest scientific knowledge that proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the earth was in fact round, and then shrugged and said, "Actually I take it back, it's probably flat…yeah definitely flat."

"We don't think it." An unfamiliar voice said from the doorway with such an authoritative edge that Chloe turned to her. "We know it." Detective Sophia Marino sighed and walked into the room, sparing a confused glance at all the computers and file boxes.

"We know it?" Chloe asked, forming the words carefully, slowly. "_We_ know it?" She repeated. "As in not just the Star City police department but you personally? As in _you_ know it?"

"Yes." Sophia admitted. "Come on. Why do you think we wanted to talk to you before? We didn't think you actually did anything to him, we just…well knowing the particulars of your husband's case we thought there might be some sort of connection."

"My husband's-" Chloe choked on the word. "Please do enlighten me on the particulars of my husband's case."

"Does Oliver ever talk about how he lost his company?" Sophia asked. "Or how he got it back?"

"No." Chloe whispered. It was just something they didn't discuss. When he'd lost everything he was so heartbroken over it that Chloe didn't want to push him. Then one day when suddenly it was all back again he'd been so relieved that she hadn't asked. Maybe deep down she didn't want to know. "It was…it had to do with stock holders and, and, some sort of hostile takeover." Chloe's explanation sounded lame even to her own ears.

"A multibillion dollar International corporation is taken right out from underneath his nose, precisely and efficiently leaving him only slightly better than destitute. A few years later he's got it all back and it didn't feel the least bit suspicious to you?" Sophia stared at her and Chloe had the sudden feeling like she was being interrogated.

"So what?" Chloe recoiled as she put the pieces together. "You're saying that it was the Mob? That he what, joined up with them that he's some kind of gangster? That's how he got his company back?"

She expected Sophia to smile, laugh and for the room to erupt into a very large chorus of "Gotcha!". She expected to be told that she was wrong; she was not expecting Sophia to simply nod. "That's exactly what I'm saying."

The room did erupt then, everyone seemed to explode into their own version of "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard in my entire life." All of them, all of her friends, all of her family were fervently denying it, assuming that aliens would announce themselves to the world with the sole purpose of enticing humans to Mars to look at vacation timeshares before Oliver would ever ingratiate himself with the mob. All except for Chloe.

She'd moved away from them as they screamed and shouted and fell into the soft embrace of the couch cushions wondering how she could have been so stupid. Because as much as she wanted to be on the other side of the room, as much as she wanted to stand next to Lois, filled to the brim with righteous indignation at any hint of impropriety on Oliver's part, but she couldn't. She couldn't because she was afraid that Sophia was right.

She'd never understand all the subtle nuances of the business world, was never very good at the office politics or boardroom backstabbing. She made a horrible corporate girlfriend, constantly saying things that were inappropriate or doing things that threatened already fragile negotiations whenever Oliver took her within fifty feet of his work friends. But even she was smart enough to know, deep down that the way everything went down with Oliver and his company was not exactly Kosher.

Now, literally faced with the possibility of Oliver's involvement in things relatively shady she was leaning more toward annoyance at her own stupidity than blind faith in Oliver's innocence. Things had changed since he'd gotten back and top and it wasn't just the little things.

It wasn't just his newfound frugality, the way he no longer flaunted his wealth or the increase in charity work (which now, Chloe felt horribly ashamed to admit, seemed almost like a way to assuage feelings of guilt). It was the hours he kept, the more late nights he spent at work. Most girlfriends would have attributed to an affair but Chloe had been more than sure was just a renewed sense of work ethics, a need to feel like he was earning his keep.

Then there were all the new faces. It wasn't unusual these days to come home, seek out Oliver only to find him in his study talking with someone Chloe had never met before. There was a constant parade of people whose names were never even offered, who filtered in and out of the house either picking something up or dropping something off.

The clincher however wasn't even remotely business related, it was about the JLA. Despite Chloe's unwritten, yet universally acknowledged control over the group and all of its dealings, Oliver had been subtly directing them this past year, or rather, misdirecting them. Chloe was now remembering the countless times in the past year that she had latched onto some seemingly insignificant occurrence in the paper or police blotter that she'd thought might mean something more. Reports of a string of robberies that might have mob roots or insinuations of corruptions in city hall that likely had ties to organized crime.

She remembered all the times she'd brought these things up to Oliver and he'd told her to forget about it, to drop it, that it wasn't anything they needed to worry about that their time was better spent dealing with meta's and meta related activities. And she had dropped them, without question, without a second thought because it made sense to her that they should deal with the criminals the police weren't equipped to handle and let them worry about petty thieves and gangsters.

"Oh God." Chloe whispered to herself as everything slotted into place, nice and neat and oh so very wrong. What if he'd told her to drop it because he didn't want her to look into it, because if she looked into it, she would find out, about him.

"You know it's true." Sophia said to her and her alone and everyone stopped arguing with each other long enough to pay attention to the other drama that was unfolding.

"If it's true." Chloe said slowly, forcing herself to stand, forcing herself to look this woman in the eye and ignoring the indignant, "Chloe!" That she knew had to come from Lois. "If it's true." Chloe pressed on. "Then you knew all along. You knew the moment that I got here, you knew the moment that I showed up covered in blood what happened?"

"What _might_ have happened." Sophia corrected her. "It was really all speculation until you mentioned the guy with the British accent, the one with the penchant for torture who we're pretty sure is a local mob enforcer."

"Wait, backup for the kids on the slow bus here." Lois stepped in. "You're telling me that Oliver was taken by the Mafia?"

"Yes." Sophia nodded and Chloe forced herself to choke back the sob that threatened to escape her as the room once again exploded into a roar of arguments. "I'll give you a minute to let everything sink in."

At some point Chloe felt back down to the couch. Mia was at her side in an instant, probably afraid that her brain would once again shut down, cut her off from the world and Chloe wished that it would. "He knew." She said softly, her mind replaying one part of their last conversation over and over in her head. "He knew." She said again.

"_You know who they are?" Chloe looked down at him. He stopped and looked up at her before nodding once. "Oliver." Chloe said confused and afraid. _

"_I was going to tell you." Oliver said reaching around for a large enough piece of glass to cut the belt with. "I just didn't know how." _

"Ok, so now we know who has him, we just need to figure out the where." Dinah turned to the guys. "Any thoughts?"

"I can go through SCPD's list of known Mafia business and properties and send Bart to check them out." Victor announced and Bart nodded.

"Hold on, no one's going through the SCPD's list of anything." Mia spoke up. "And you're definitely not sending a kid out to snoop around known mob buildings, are you crazy. This is a police matter."

"She's right actually." AC piped up and everyone turned to him sharply. He held up his hands in supplication to ward off their anger. "I'm just saying, the mob is not our business, it's not what we do. It was different when we thought it was about something else. But when it comes down to it, these guys are just, normal, everyday, run of the mill, regular criminals, we don't do regular criminals."

"Regular criminals who are holding Oliver hostage, possibly torturing him." Bart said. "Regular criminals who had no problem leaving Chloe out in the middle of nowhere to bleed to death."

"AC's got a point." Clark stepped up to defend him. "Regardless of all that, this isn't what we do."

"Then we'll make it what we do." Victor snapped.

"What do you think Boss?" Dinah had turned to Chloe, waiting her orders. "Should we look for him or let the cops handle this one?"

"Oh no, we're gonna look for him and we're gonna find him." Chloe stood up and of all the emotions that she'd gone through in the past twenty four hours, this was the one that was going to sustain her long enough to get the job done, forget sugar, forget coffee, she was running on pure emotion right now. She wasn't worried anymore; she wasn't scared or hurt or upset. No Chloe Queen was pissed. "We're going to find him, and then I'm gonna kick his ass."


	7. Chapter 7

"Ransom?" Oliver panted, spitting some blood out of his mouth onto the cold concrete floor. "You can't be serious."

"I like this, this could work." Jack smiled tapping the phone on his chin. "Yes, this could work very well indeed." He was ignoring Oliver which didn't really bode that well. "She'll pay." Jack turned to look at Oliver. "And a hundred million is certainly more than enough to hide from our mutual friend if things go south."

"You're screwing over Charlie?" Oliver laughed and then winced, yep, his ribs were broken.

"_Thinking_ about screwing over Charlie." Jack corrected. "And you're one to talk." He reminded him.

"I didn't think you were in this for the money." Oliver glared at the other man.

"I'm not, but I'm also not going to get thrown in jail because some billionaire playing gangster pissed off the wrong mob boss." Jack shook his head. "You've always got to have a back-up plan my friend." Jack forcibly smacked the back of Oliver's head. "Something you should have done well to remember."

"A back-up plan." Oliver shook his head. "I wish I'd have thought of that. It would have saved me a lot of trouble, and an SUV." Jack just smiled and walked out of the room. Oliver sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "She's totally gonna sell my car to pay the ransom." He twitched his nose and sighed. "Now my nose itches." He tried to rub it against his shoulder but he just couldn't reach. "This day just keeps getting worse. Chloe is so going to kill me."

**********

"Ok, first thing first." Chloe turned to Mia. "I'm going to need everything you have on these guys." She motioned to Oliver's file. "Any known associates, rap sheets, everything you've got."

"Chloe, you know I'm not going to give those to you." Mia said, wondering how long it would take this time for the files to mysteriously appear in Chloe's hands.

"Oh." Chloe smiled suddenly, snapping her fingers dramatically. There may as well have been a giant light bulb above her head. "The FBI." She turned back to her computer. "Organized crime is like their thing right? They've probably got tons of information on these guys."

"And how are you planning on getting into the FBI's files?" Wise asked her concerned but relatively assured he knew the answer.

"The same way I got into yours." Chloe said sheepishly. "Hack into their system. Good thing about the Fed's is all their stuff is electronic so I don't even need hard copies, I can make my own."

"I'm sorry Chloe, I really am, but I can't let you do that." Chloe turned startled to see Mason standing beside her. She briefly wondered when she'd gone from Ms. Queen to Chloe.

"It's fine. I've done it hundreds of times." She brushed him off.

"I didn't just hear that." He mumbled under his breath as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Chloe paused again and really looked at him. He looked exhausted. His hair was rumpled, his eyes had dark circles under them and he was wearing the same clothes he'd had on the day before at the wedding.

"Mason?" Chloe asked confused.

"Look, I kept my mouth shut when you hacked into the SCPD system because, while still a felony, honestly, not my problem. But I really can't sit here and watch you commit a federal crime." He explained.

"You can't?" Chloe's voice was slightly amused as if she found the whole situation endearing.

"I really can't." He sighed resigned, pulling something out of his back pocket and dropping it on the table in front of her.

Chloe looked down to see a black leather wallet. She picked it up slowly and opened it. She let out a bark of laughter and tentatively reached forward to touch it, see it if was real because there is no way that the man who followed her around on her wedding day making the best coffee she'd ever tasted in her life was an FBI agent.

Her fingers ran along the edges of the heavy metal badge as she read the information on the sheet. Special Agent Conner Mason. "So you're not a barista then?" Chloe tossed the wallet into the middle of the table so everyone else could see it.

"No ma'am." He shook his head. He was standing a bit taller now, his eyes more focused, his voice more authoritative and she noticed for the first time the familiar bulge at the back of his pants that indicated a service weapon.

"Might I ask why you were pretending to be one on my Wedding day?"

"The barista thing was Oliver's idea but I was there because…well, I was assigned to you." Mason said, doing that FBI thing where he stared just a little to the left of her face. "I was there for your protection."

Chloe was quiet for a minute trying to process too many things at once. "Why would I need protection from the FBI?" And that was the kicker wasn't it? She wasn't confused as to why she would need protection but as to why the FBI would be the one to provide it. There were many reasons why Oliver or others might feel she needed protection, many things involving many illicit and illegal activities, but nothing that the FBI would be concerned about.

"Because." Mason moved his eyes just enough so he was staring straight at her. "Your husband has been working undercover with the FBI for the past eighteen months to investigate Carmine Luciano and we thought-" he paused at the look on her face. "We weren't sure until a few hours ago, but we thought his cover might have been blown."

Chloe wanted to laugh again but she couldn't, she really couldn't, this whole day had gone from ridiculous to surreal and at this point she wasn't even sure what was tragic and what was funny anymore.

"Hold on." Bart stepped forward. "Carmine Luciano?" He scoffed. "The Sicilian? Gentleman's Don? The freaking

Old World Mephistopheles?"

"The one and only." Mason nodded.

"Are we missing something?" Victor asked confused.

"He's the head of pretty much all organized crime this side of Chicago." Bart threw his hands in the air. "He's old school." Bart said. "Guy got off the boat, fresh from Sicily and in two days had taken over Tommy "Two Toes" Carpoli's territory and Frank Gigante's. He had California organized in a month."

"Should I be scared about how much you know about modern day mobsters?" Victor asked him.

"It's a hobby." Bart bristled at his tone. "Anyway, this guy is seriously bad news, like the worst kind of news you could get. Like if you go into a doctor about a small freckle on your neck, Carmine Luciano is the equivalent of a stage four melanoma diagnosis."

"So wait, he's like cancer?" AC asked.

"Yes, serious, painful, and with less than a 5% survival rate." Bart explained. "We've got to get Oliver away from him and fast."

"Hold on though." Lois shook her head. "Most of those mob guys have badass names that indicate their preferred method of killing. This guy's the Gentleman's Don, doesn't sound so bad, not a real hands on kind of guy."

"The Brit he's got with him, no one knows his real name. They just call him Jack." At their still confused faces Mason explained. "As in Jack the Ripper."

"Why?" Dinah asked quietly, already dreading the answer.

"Because he likes to play around with your insides." Mason sighed. "While you're still alive."

"Right, so slightly hands on?" AC sighed.

"Slightly." Mason pulled out a chair and sat down; relaxing for what was probably the first time in two days.

"This day just keeps getting better and better." Chloe said bringing a hand up to scratch her nose. "I'm so gonna kill Oliver."

************

Chloe walked out the back door of the station, for some reason the only place not crawling with reporters. It likely had something to do with the stench rolling off the overheated, overflowing dumpsters. It smelled disgusting but it was quiet, blessedly quiet and there was no one out here looking to her for answers, looking to her for orders. She slid down the back wall and rested her forehead on her knees. She couldn't be sure how long she'd been sitting there when she heard his voice. "It seriously stinks out here."

Chloe lifted her head, exhaustion starting to settle into her bones. "Jake?" She squinted at the man. "What are you doing here?"

"I saw the news." He stared down at her. "I…shit are you ok?"

Chloe laughed and then sobbed and lowered her head to her knees again. "I just needed some fresh air."

"Not very fresh." He snorted and she laughed again, this time suppressing the sob.

"Really Jake." Chloe's voice was muffled. "What are you doing here?"

"I need to tell you something." He took a deep breath and Chloe lifted her head.

"I swear to God Jake." She stared at him. "If you came here to tell me that you're with the CIA or that you're an alien from outer space or like, Canadian, today is really not the day."

He smiled and crouched down in front of her. "100% human and American. The CIA thing would be cool, but not so much." They both laughed at that but Jake sobered up quickly. "I think I know who has Oliver."

"I know I know who has Oliver." Chloe leaned her head against the back wall of the police station. "Carmine Luciano. The Gentleman's Don, The Sicilian, The Old World Mephistopheles." She barked out laughter. "Oh and he's brought along his buddy, the fucking modern day Jack the Ripper."

"So you know." Jake collapsed against wall next to her.

"I know." Chloe nodded then turned to him and narrowed her eyes. "How do you know?"

"Because I introduced them." Jake swallowed hard, unable to look at Chloe. She nodded and stood up slowly. Jake scrambling up after her. She inclined her head, letting him know that he should follow and he did as they walked into the building. He led her into a room full of people he recognized, her cousin and her friends, and a few people he didn't. She turned to the man in the corner and leveled him with a glare. She pulled out two chairs, sat in one and motioned for him to sit in the other. He obeyed.

"Tell me." Chloe leaned forward.

"Chloe, it's an ongoing investigation I can't just…"

"Tell me." She said again and Mason just nodded.

**Three Years Ago…**

Oliver signed where his secretary indicated and glanced up at the clock on the wall for the tenth time. "It's your own fault." Lucy shook her head at him flipping the page and pointing to another line.

"These really can't wait until tomorrow?" Oliver asked.

"Sure, you can wait to sign these until tomorrow. It's nothing important or anything. It's not like if you don't sign these it'll cause every single Queen Industries Employees to stop getting paid. " Lucy said dropping that file and then moving onto the next one, flipping it open and pointing to a line at the bottom.

Oliver, thoroughly chastised, remembered these were the contract renewals for the firm who handled the payroll and benefits for everyone who worked for him. They had to be entered in by midnight tonight or all the money would stop. "That's a stupid system." Oliver grumbled.

"Yes well, I put these on your desk two weeks ago and instead of signing them when I told you to, you played around and here we are at eight o'clock on Friday night." She flipped the page again and Oliver could feel his fingers cramping up.

"It's not like I was making Origami swans, I do have a whole company to run." Oliver pointed out and she just glared at him. He turned his attention back to the contracts and started signing again.

"As it is I'm going to be stuck here for another three hours processing these." She grabbed another file and opened it up.

"I'm sorry Lucy." Oliver rolled his eyes. He was the president of this company, he should not be apologizing to his secretary but she was a seriously scary woman.

"Don't be sorry to me." She snorted. "This is my job." She looked up at the clock. "Be sorry to Chloe. You're so late you do realize that don't you?"

"Yes, thank you. I realized that twenty minutes ago, when the auction started and I was still sitting at my desk." He said dryly.

"Don't take that tone with me." Lucy slammed the file shut and stood up straight. Oliver immediately jumped from his seat and grabbed his jacket.

"Sorry Lucy." Oliver apologized again as she walked to her desk and Oliver hurried to the elevators. The doors opened and Oliver jumped in, straightening his tie and fiddling with his cuff links. Lucy just smiled as she started to process the contracts. The elevator doors opened again a minute later and Oliver jumped out with a panicked expression on his face.

"Forget something?" She lifted her head trying to portray innocence.

"You could have reminded me." Oliver walked to her desk.

"I'm not your mother." She shook her head, walking over to the storage closet behind her desk and opening the door.

"Well you sure act like it sometimes." Oliver mumbled under his breath.

"Just for that." Lucy turned around holding a basket out for Oliver that contained a bottle of wine, an intricately carved music box in the shape of a hot air balloon, a baguette and a small bag of clothes pins. "I hope she bids on someone else's basket."

"You're a horrible spiteful woman Lucy." Oliver grabbed the basket and kissed her on her cheek. "You take Monday off ok?" He called back to her as he once again climbed in the elevator. Oliver shifted his weight from foot to foot impatiently, thinking about what Lucy had said. Chances were if he didn't get to the hospital in the next twenty minutes, Chloe probably will have bid on someone else's basket.

The elevator doors opened up into the dark underground parking garage and Oliver hurried to his car, already working and reworking his excuse for Chloe over in his head. He didn't have the whole thing sorted out but he knew he was going to rely heavily on pointing out things like how his actions allowed a family to put food on the table for one more week and provide quality medical care for sick children. Yes he was definitely going with the sick kids; Chloe was a sucker for sick kids.

He was so lost in his own thoughts that he didn't notice the man leaning on the hood of his car until Oliver was right next to him. "Mr. Queen." The man had a British accent and a large, almost creepy grin. He pushed himself off of Oliver's car and literally tipped his hat to Oliver.

"Can I help you?" Oliver asked wearily as he pulled out his keys.

"Mr. Luciano requests a word with you." The man said.

"I don't know who Mr. Luciano is." Oliver smiled. "But tell him he can feel free to contact my secretary." Oliver reached forward to unlock his car and suddenly the British man was standing in between him and the car door.

"I'm afraid that's not how Mr. Luciano does business." The man's smile was gone and Oliver felt the muscles in his fist twitch with the desire to hit him. The sound of a car pulling up behind him captured his attention and in one smooth motion the British man had taken the basket from Oliver, turned him around and shoved him slightly forward with a firm hand on Oliver's back. "Like I said, Mr. Luciano would like a word." The car, the limo actually, came to a stop and the back door was opened from within.

Before Oliver could even think about doing anything he was shoved once more from behind and found himself settling into the back seat. "Thank you Jack." A gravelly voice with a slight Italian accent spoke from behind a newspaper on the seat opposite Oliver. Oliver assumed Jack was the British man who'd cornered him.

"My pleasure." Jack smiled.

"Mr. Queen." The man lowered the newspaper, folding it neatly and setting it beside him on the seat as the car moved forward. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

"Mr. Luciano I presume." Oliver couldn't help but notice, but was also completely unimpressed by, the very large bodyguards on either side of the old man, or the 9mm Beretta's they both had tucked under inside their suit jackets.

"Please, call me Carmine." The man said motioning to Jack who reached to the side bar in the backseat and grabbed two glasses. He placed one large ice cube in each glass then poured a healthy measure of scotch in both, passing one to Carmine and one to Oliver. "Actually my friends call me Charlie, and I do hope Mr. Queen that we will soon become very close friends." He smiled before sipping the drink and then nodded at Oliver to do the same.

Everyone stared at Oliver intently so he took a small sip and then closed his eyes. "This is a Dalmore 62." Oliver said reverently. He'd tasted this scotch only once before in his life and never again. Only twelve were produced, they ran about $50,000 a bottle and getting his hands on one was one of the more difficult things he'd ever done in his life.

"I knew you'd appreciate it." Carmine smiled. "I'm not much of a scotch man myself."

Oliver had noticed as he took his second sip of the incredibly rich amber liquid that Carmine had set his glass aside. Oliver sighed and leaned over to set his own glass beside Carmine's discarded one and had one moment, one pang of regret at letting the scotch sit there while the ice slowly melted, rendering the liquid completely undrinkable. "What exactly is it that you want Mr. Luciano." Oliver said pointedly not using the man's first name.

"Like I said. I simply wish Mr. Queen that we can become good friends." He smiled. "I'm quite new in town and I like nothing more than making new friends."

Oliver's brain was working over time. The off business hours, the Italian accent, the thugs, the $50,000 scotch, all of it pointed to one thing and one thing only. "I'm sorry Mr. Luciano, but I've got enough friends thank you." Oliver said cheekily. The man's smile didn't vanish, in fact he laughed. It was just one sharp bark of laughter and it surprised all the other passengers in the car. "Someone want to clue me in on the joke?"

"Forgive me." Carmine smiled. "I'm an old man and it's been a while since someone refused me, especially so quickly."

"What can I say?" Oliver shrugged. "I like to be unpredictable."

"Mr. Queen, may I call you Oliver?" Carmine asked.

"I'd rather you didn't." Oliver said truthfully.

"Fair enough." The man acquiesced. "Mr. Queen. I came to this country a few years ago and do you know what I saw? Turmoil. I saw the cities being run by petty criminals, the people living in fear to go out of their own homes after dark." Oliver frowned; he knew all this because this was the very thing he'd been fighting the past two years. "This is not how people should live is it?"

"No." Oliver agreed with him.

"No." Carmine smiled. "Which is why I do what I do, to help people, to save them."

"I can't be a hundred percent sure what it is you actually do Mr. Luciano, but I have no doubt in my mind that it has nothing what so ever to do with helping people." Oliver scoffed at him.

This time the smile did disappear from Carmine's face and he leaned forward in his seat. "I've cleaned up this city, this state even. Gotten rid of the riff-raff, put the word out that petty crimes would not be tolerated in my territory."

"Right so you take down a lot of tiny little criminal organizations and replace it with one massive criminal organization, headed of course, by you. How magnanimous." Oliver pointed out. There was no use pretending anymore that he didn't know Carmine was mafia.

"Exactly." Carmine smiled, also losing all pretense. "And how is that any different than what you do Mr. Queen?" Oliver's eyes snapped over to Carmines confused. "Granted I don't have to don green leather, and I much prefer a gun to a cross bow to get my point across but still, are we not alike? Going outside the law, cleaning up the streets and working hard to make sure they stay that way?"

Oliver leaned forward, a little too shocked to really process the fact that the head of the Mafia had just identified him as the Green Arrow. "I am nothing like you." He spat out, enunciating carefully, lest there be any confusion on the matter.

"We are more alike than perhaps your comfortable admitting at the moment Mr. Queen, but alike none the less." Carmine leaned close, his voice deadly serious. "I have a proposition for you." He leaned back in seat, the smile back on his face. "It is key to my very survival to know where the power lies in any given situation and here in Star City, the power lies with you." Oliver moved to protest. "Whether in a Gucci suit or a leather one, you hold the power in this town, a power that I need."

"And what I'm just supposed to give it to you?" Oliver asked. "Ok, but only if you ask very, very nicely."

Carmine smiled. "No, ideally I'd like for you to share it with me, work with me. You are very impressive man Mr. Queen and I know that the two of us together could conquer so much more than the West Coast."

"Is this the part where you tell me your plan for total world domination?" Oliver smiled, amused. "Does it involve a secret underground base on the moon? Cause I'm not in unless there's a secret underground base on the moon."

"I'm an old man." Carmine said. "World domination is a dream for much younger men but I do have my sights set on something much higher than California. Work with me, beside me and together you can have the world at your fingertips."

"I've already got the world at my fingertips." Oliver said. The car stopped and the door opened. Oliver turned and found himself looking at the entrance to the hospital. "And if you'll excuse me, I'm terribly late for a date with a very lovely woman." Oliver smiled one more time and climbed out of the car.

"Mr. Queen." Carmine caught his attention and he turned around to have his basket shoved in his arms. "Please give my regards to Miss Sullivan."

"If it's all the same to you, I don't think I will." Oliver shook his head.

"At least don't forget to compliment her on the dress. It took her quite a long time to find it. Vintage Dior, beautiful beading. She looks delightfully exquisite."

Oliver took two steps back to the limo. "How do you…" Oliver cut himself off before things got out of hand. "You leave Chloe out of…whatever this is. Do you understand me?"

"Perfectly." Carmine nodded once. "Oh and just so you know Mr. Queen. This was me asking very very nicely." He got back into the car and drove away and Oliver couldn't keep his eyes off the back of the limo, just long enough to make sure it was really gone.

"Oliver!" Chloe called to him from the top of the steps. "Where the hell have you been?"

He turned around and smiled when he saw her standing there in a beautiful floor length gown of the palest pink. Silk and organza flowed together in precise striping that wound naturally around the bodice and down the skirt and over top a layer of finely detailed beading, twisting all around the dress. "Wow." Oliver swallowed hard as he took in the whole look. Her cheeks were flushed pink from the chill in the air and he smiled at her. "That's some dress."

"Do you like it?" Chloe asked nervously.

"It's…exquisite." He used Carmine's word, because there really was no other option. He couldn't help himself ask the next question, he had to know. "Vintage Dior?"

He'd hoped Chloe would laugh, correct him with Versace or Vera Wang. Then he wouldn't have to worry about the fact that a mafia Don had obviously been following his girl. Her eyes simply widened in surprise. "How did you know?"

Oliver swallowed again. He didn't want to think about how he knew. "Lucky guess." He held out his arm. "Would you care to accompany me inside?"

"You're late." Chloe slid her arm in his. "Very late." She reiterated and Oliver has his excuse ready on his lips. "And in your absence I was forced to bid on someone else's basket."

The excuse forgotten, Oliver turned sharply to Chloe. "Whose?"

"How should I know?" Chloe shrugged mischievously, which told him she knew exactly whose basket she'd bid on. "You know it's anonymous." She patted his arm affectionately. "Don't worry there are still some very deep pockets in there. I'm sure your basket will go for a high price."

"It's not the price that I'm worried about." Oliver mumbled under his breath.

"Well, that will teach you to be late." Chloe opened the door and they walked inside. Oliver was determined to put Carmine Luciano out of his head and enjoy the evening.

********

Oliver managed to put Carmine Luciano out of his head rather quickly, as soon as he found out whose basket Chloe had bid on. He managed to keep Carmine Luciano out of his head for a full two weeks, until he and Chloe decided to spending a weekend in the country at his parent's old house. Chloe went to change and Oliver headed into the kitchen to see if the fridge had been stocked and figure out what he was going to cook for diner.

Sitting on the kitchen counter, wrapped in a green satin ribbon was a wooden box, about the size of a shoe box. He assumed it was a gift from Chloe trying to apologize for bidding on someone else's basket and saddling him with, of all people, Eleanor Rothschild, the founding mother of Star City and President of the Junior League. Her family had basically run this town for three hundred years and she had at least a hundred stories for every year and Oliver knew that he was going to hear each and every one of those stories.

"Feeling guilty I see." Oliver called out to her. "About time too."

"I never feel guilty." Chloe walked in the room pulling her hair into a pony tail. "What are you talking about? Guilty for what?" She walked passed him and opened the freezer, pulling out a metal canister. She turned over to the counter and started making a pot of coffee.

"Don't even." Oliver pulled off the green ribbon as she filled the coffee machine with water. "You know exactly what you have to feel guilty about."

Chloe merely smirked at Oliver and opened the fridge pulling out a bowl of fruit. "He's picking me up on Wednesday night." She popped a strawberry in her mouth. "When's your date with Eleanor? She's terribly excited about the whole thing. She hasn't stopped talking about it all week."

"What are you doing spending the week with Eleanor Rothschild?" Oliver asked.

"She's been telling me about some of the changes she thinks we should implement when I take over as the head of the Junior League's Fund Raising Committee." Chloe smirked excited.

"Seriously?" Oliver walked over to her. "She wants you to head the Committee?" Chloe nodded, her grin so large it threatened to crack her cheeks and Oliver pulled her into a hug. "Sissy Parker must be pissed."

"Oh I haven't told her yet." Chloe smiled manically. "I'm still trying to figure out just the right way to do it so that I elicit the maximum amount of well deserved jealousy. Hopefully somewhere there's a rather large audience."

"I never knew how vindictive you were." Oliver laughed going back to his box.

"Yeah well, she's the one who dumped the hospital fundraiser on me thinking I would crash and burn like everyone else, and then when it became a success, she tried to steal it out from under me." Chloe popped another strawberry in her mouth and pulled herself up to sit on the counter. Oliver opened the box and froze. "Do you think she'll cry? It would be so awesome if I made her cry." Chloe laughed. "Oliver." She frowned when he didn't respond.

"Huh?" Oliver turned to her, tearing his eyes away from the bottle.

"What is it?" Chloe nodded at the gift. "Is it from Eleanor?" She jumped off the counter and walked around the bar. "Wow." She reached in the box and pulled out the bottle. "This is a Dalmore 62." Chloe gently spun the bottle around in her hands. "You've been looking for one of these for longer than I've known you. How did she know?"

"It's not from Eleanor." Oliver took the bottle away from her a little forcibly.

"Who's it from?" Chloe grabbed the box before Oliver could stop her. "Look there's a note." She pulled a small white square off the back of the box. "It says, 'There's more where this came from. This is the last time I ask.' What does that mean? Who is this from?"

"It's a business associate." Oliver shoved the bottle back in the box and practically ripped the note away from her. "He wants me to invest in his company and I told him I wasn't interested." Oliver stood up and wrapped the box back up with the green ribbon. "This is a last ditch attempt I suppose."

"Oh." Chloe frowned.

"I'm just going to take this back to him. Let him know I'm still not interested."

"You have to bring it back to him tonight?" Chloe followed him to the door as he pulled on his jacket.

Carmine had been in his house, this definitely couldn't wait. "If I don't, it'll be sitting there taunting me all weekend." Oliver kissed her cheek. "I won't be more than an hour, I promise and I'll pick up some Greek take out on the way back."

"How did you know I've been craving Greek?" Chloe smiled.

"You've been talking about Baklava for like two weeks now." Oliver said. "And you never get it because it's got nuts."

"You're allergic." Chloe smiled as if it were no big deal.

"I'll find you some nut free Baklava." Oliver promised before getting into the car and driving away. He was halfway into the city when he realized that he had no idea where to return the bottle too. He stopped at red light and tried to figure out what to do. He couldn't give the bottle back to Carmine because he had no idea where Carmine was. He couldn't just get rid of the bottle either because he needed Carmine to know that Oliver was refusing him in no uncertain terms.

He smiled when his salvation came in the form of none other than a neon green cross shining over a small dilapidated building. He pulled over to the curb and parked, walking up the steps to what he now knew was the Saint Nicholas Catholic Church. He walked into the building and looked around at the dingy interior. "Who's there?" A man asked from the front by the alter.

"Sorry Father." Oliver walked further into the building, slightly sheepish. "I just wanted to make a donation."

"Oh, we're always willing to take those." The man smiled and walked forward and Oliver pushed the box into the priest's hand. He opened the box and frowned. "Scotch?"

"This is a 1943 vintage Dalmore 62 Single Highland Malt. It's a blend from 5 different casks; only twelve bottles were ever produced. The last one sold at auction for over $50,000."

"I don't know much about scotch." The priest smiled setting the box down on a pew. "I'm more a Sacramental Wine sort of a guy." Oliver stared at him then laughed. "This seems like a very spur of the moment decision and this is a very expensive bottle of scotch. I realize you don't need the money Mr. Queen, but are you sure you just want to give it away to us?"

Oliver wondered if he'd ever get used to people just knowing who he was. "It was a gift that I'd rather not keep."

"A gift?" He asked extinguishing the candles on the wall. "You're giving away a gift?"

"It's not like that." Oliver laughed. "I'm 99% sure that the intention behind the gift was less of a friendly gesture and more of an attempt to…lead me into temptation."

"Ah." The priest nodded. "I see."

Oliver reached into his wallet and flipped through his cards until he found the one he was looking for. "Call them, ask for Stephanie. Tell her that Oliver Queen recommended her. She'll help you sell it." He smiled passing over a business card for an auction house. "I believe if it's for a nonprofit organization, they'll waive their usual fee."

"I really appreciate this Mr. Queen."

"Sure." Oliver smiled. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to find somewhere in the city that's got baklava with no nuts or I'm not sure what my girlfriends going to do." He laughed and headed for the door. "Could you just, keep my name out of it?" Oliver asked. "In case anyone asks about the scotch."

The priest smiled and nodded. "Mykonos."

"Bless you?" Oliver said uncertainly.

"It's a Greek place on 84th and Main." The priest explained. "Best Baklava this side of the Aegean. Ask for Aleska and tell her that I sent you. She'll make you up a batch nut free."

"Thanks Father." Oliver turned and walked out.

He came back with a special batch of nut free baklava. Aleska had the batch halfway to the oven before Oliver even finished explaining, insisting that he need more meet on his bones. She also sent him home with what he was sure was one of everything on the menu and a promise that he would bring Chloe in soon.

A week later a story appeared on page two, under the fold about a priest who sold an anonymously donated bottle of scotch for $62,350. Three weeks later when he was sitting in his office and was informed by his lawyers that a controlling interest in Queen Industries had been bought right out from under him, and his board was voting him out, he was relatively assured that Carmine had gotten the picture.

Before Oliver even realized what was happening, they'd taken everything, his business, his apartment, his car, his house. That whole period was one big blur to Oliver. The only thing he remembered really was Chloe by his side. She found and furnished a new apartment when they had no place to live. She gave up anything and everything with no complaints, Oliver even felt sometimes she gave them up happily. She stood by his side as they packed up his parent's home, her hand solid in his, the only thing keeping him grounded to the real world. It was just as hard on her as it had been on him, he knew, but she didn't let it show, she didn't crumble like he did.

He hit bottom three months into his new life with one simple delivery of a dozen white tulips. "What does this mean?" Chloe slid the card across the table to him over dinner.

"What is it?" Oliver reached for the card.

"It came with the flowers you sent." Chloe smiled at him. "But I don't understand it."

Oliver dropped his fork. "I didn't send you any flowers." He opened the card slowly and swallowed hard. All it said was, 'I did ask nicely'. "Where are they?" He jumped up.

"In the vase on the coffee table." Chloe jumped up and followed him to the living room where he scooped up the flowers and dropped them into the trash. "Oliver!"

"Just..."

"What did it mean?" Chloe asked quietly.

"Can we please just eat dinner?" Oliver snapped at her and she nodded, walking back to the table. The next day he found the ticket to Gotham City and he spiraled out of control.

"Gotham City?" Oliver asked dropping the plane ticket he found in her bag on the kitchen table. "You leaving me?" He tried to joke.

"I have a business meeting." Chloe took a bite of her cereal.

"A business meeting?" Oliver frowned at her confused. "What business do you have in Gotham?"

"JLA business." Chloe dumped the last of her cereal down the drain and rinsed out her bowl. "I'm meeting with someone who I think could take over the funding."

"Right." Oliver nodded, everything finally and painfully hitting home to him. "You need money to fight crime and I'm kind of broke."

"Oliver." Chloe sighed. "We agreed that I would be in charge of the team and yes we need money to keep going so I'm going out and I'm getting it."

"That's good." Oliver said. "That's great actually." He paused, putting the pieces together. Gotham City, someone who had enough money to throw away at something like the JLA, someone who Oliver would rather gouge his eye out then ask for help. His stomach twisted horribly and he turned to Chloe, his mouth suddenly independent from his brain. "So are you going to go for the whole package? " He could hear himself saying the words, see himself digging the hole but he couldn't seem to stop himself.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Chloe frowned.

"Like you had with me?" Oliver smiled. "After all you didn't just loose the JLA funding. You lost the penthouse and the fancy car and the house in the Hamptons."

"Oliver." Chloe was close to the breaking point and he knew if he stopped now, if he shut up it would be ok, but he didn't stop.

"Oh and let's not forget the jewels and the fancy dinners." Oliver laughed. "Hey, is he about my size? Cause he can just take the suit and have that part of my life too. What's his number? I should give him a call, maybe if I tell him how generous you are in the bedroom he'd thrown in a private plane." When she slapped him, he was almost grateful. Oliver brought a hand up to his cheek and knew he'd gotten off easy, that he deserved much, much worse. "Chloe, that was way out of line." He whispered.

"Yes it was." Chloe said stepping away from him calmly and grabbed her bag. "My flight leaves at ten; I'll call you when I land to let you know it got in ok." She picked up the plane ticket.

"Chloe wait." Oliver wanted to reach out to her but he was scared. He numbly wondering if this was it. Losing the money and the houses and everything that went along with it wasn't enough to get her to leave; maybe he'd finally pushed her too far.

"Oliver, I really need to leave right now. I need to leave now because if I don't, the next time I leave I won't come back." She said her back to him and that hurt worse than her slap, like a punch to the gut.

"Yeah ok." Oliver nodded. She paused with her hand on the knob and turned around. She walked over to him, rising on her tip toes and kissing him softly.

"This isn't easy for me either. But I'm making the best of it. I wish you would too. I love you." She said before turning around and walking out of the apartment.

********

When she got back, he tried he really did, he put on a smile and apologized every five minutes and when the tickets to the charity ball arrived in the mail he was the one who suggested they go, that they have one last hurrah. That had been a mistake.

The only purpose it served was to let him know just how far he'd fallen, to show him what he was no longer a part of, what Chloe was no longer a part of because of him. It all became too much and suddenly he couldn't breathe. He barely remembered excusing himself, remembered Chloe coming after him, remembered a brief argument and then he said goodbye.

He walked around town for a while. He stared at the building that was his new home and couldn't bring himself to go up to the apartment. That's when he saw the sign, the Stout Goat. He could definitely use a drink but drinks usually cost money. He paused, remembering the last time he'd worn the tux and shoved his hand in his pockets, smiling triumphantly when he emerged with a hundred dollar bill.

"What can I get you?" The bartender asked as Oliver sat down, not once remarking on his far too dressy attire.

He thought about the bottle of Dalmore 62 and slapped the hundred dollar bill on the bar. "Glass of your best scotch." He said, his voice rough. "Keep 'em coming until that wears out."

"You got it." The woman smiled fixing the drink and sliding it to him. She was a good bartender, she didn't hover but his glass was filled before he even knew it was empty. She didn't press him to talk but she listened when the scotch loosened his tongue and he let it all pour out.

"I'm the man." Oliver said, sliding his finger around the rim of the glass. "It's my job to provide for her and I can't do that anymore."

"Has she complained?" Mary leaned against the bar.

"Well, no of course not. Chloe's not like that. She doesn't care about the money. She'd be happy if we were living in a tent." Oliver scoffed. "Well maybe not a tent, she really likes indoor plumbing." Mary laughed. "But it's my job, what good am I to her if I can't do my job?"

"Let me get this straight." Mary set her towel on the counter. "She doesn't care that you're broke. She doesn't care that you're a jack ass." Oliver snorted into his glass. "And she loves you enough to run out of a very nice party and track you down to a seedy bar and you let this woman go?"

"Track me down…" Oliver turned his head and saw Chloe walk into the bar. She was still dressed for the party as she scanned the room, he turned away before she saw him. "Another." Oliver slid his glass toward Mary.

"I've been looking all over town for you." Chloe slid on the barstool next to him and all he could think about was how good she smelled and how he wanted nothing more than to reach out and pull her close and bury his head in her shoulder and let her tell him everything was going to be ok. Instead he sipped his drink and reminded himself that Chloe had been holding him for far too long, that it was time someone held her up and Oliver just couldn't do that right now.

"Go home." Is what he said instead. The words were painful and he had to physically tear them from his throat.

"No." Chloe said.

They fought again and this time she was the one to walk away and it took everything in him not to run after her, not to beg her forgiveness, beg her to take him back. "Jack Ass." Mary said pointedly walking away and silently Oliver agreed with her.

Then the music changed and he turned around and she wasn't gone. She was still there and she still wanted him and when the words, "Marry me" came out of her mouth for a second there he thought he was dreaming. He thought maybe he'd passed out from the scotch or something and this was all a dream. But it wasn't and she was serious and before he could talk himself out of it, before he could come up with a reasonable enough explanation as to why this was the worst idea Chloe ever had he was saying yes and she was sliding some sort of bolt nut on his finger and they were engaged.

And somehow that was ok, they were ok, well they were gonna be ok and he knew that because Chloe was there and she wasn't going anywhere. And Carmine Luciano couldn't take that away from him.

*********

In the months that followed he watched Chloe and she seemed to thrive in this new environment. He watched as she planned their wedding, as she happily secured the Stout Goat for the reception, as she reluctantly agreed to an actual caterer instead of Milo the hot dog guy. She was slightly mollified when Oliver suggested Aleska. Oliver had taken Chloe to Mykonos, the restaurant not the island, and Aleska had immediately fallen in love her, declaring it her life's mission to fatten Chloe up. Her first step being to have a special batch of nut free baklava delivered to their apartment every week.

She came home one day and she was practically bouncing off the wall with excitement. She'd found a dress, a genuine vintage wedding dress in the bottom of an antique trunk when she was shopping with Lois. She was so happy and Oliver's mind drifted back to night of the hospital fundraiser, to Chloe standing on the top of the steps of the hospital in the vintage Dior dress and he suddenly got angry.

That's how he found himself at the Stout Goat later that night enjoying a game of pool with Jake. "Jake." He asked as he missed the seven ball and moved back to let Jake play through. "Your brother, you said he worked at the docks."

"Yeah." Jake nodded.

"You said they're always looking for workers down there?" Oliver winced as Jake sunk three balls in a row.

"Always." Jake stood up confused.

"Can you talk to him?" Oliver asked. "See if he can put in a good word for me?" He'll admit he found a little pleasure in the fact that the surprise caused Jake to miss his next shot.

"You want to work at the docks?" Jake asked confused.

"Do you know how my grandfather started Queen Industries?" Oliver sunk the seven ball. "He worked nights mopping floors at a textile company and spent his days building it from the ground up." He sunk the eleven ball and then shrugged. "Everybody's got to start somewhere. Besides what kind of husband am I gonna be if I let Chloe pay for this wedding?"

"Ok, I'll call him tomorrow." Jake nodded.

**********

Within a week Oliver found himself unloading cargo ships at the docks. Truth be told the manual labor felt good even if the pay check he was getting was less than what he'd spent a week on gas before but he was working again. Still that wasn't the point of this little venture. It had been a week now and Marco, Jakes brother was showing Oliver how to work the forklift.

"Marco, that's your Mercedes in the lot?" Oliver asked grinding the gears badly. Marcos jumped up and helped him along.

"Yeah, sweet ride huh?"

"Yeah, it's just, all the other cars in the lot are about ten years old, on their last leg, and most of them break down at least once a week." Oliver looked up.

"You got a point here Queen?" Marcos jumped down.

"I need you to get a message to Carmine Luciano for me." Oliver said, letting the fork lift idle.

"I see." Marcos snorted. "So I'm Italian, I work a blue collar job so I gotta be connected, is that it?"

"No." Oliver jumped down. "You've worked here for fifteen years. You know in intimate detail how this place works, you have access to every nook and cranny here and Carmine would have had to have been a fool if putting you on his payroll wasn't the first thing he did when he got into town." Marcos just stared at Oliver. "You make only slightly higher than minimum wage and you're driving a $60, 000 car. Not to mention you knew exactly who I was talking about, so I'll say again. I need you to get a message to Carmine Luciano for me."

"You got some imagination on you Queen." Marcos shook his head and walked away. Oliver cursed himself for the rest of the day for coming on too strong and was about to give up, find another way when Marcos walked up to him at the end of his shift, slamming into his back and practically knocking him down. "What's the message?"

"Really?" Oliver asked.

"I asked around about you." Marcos shrugged. "What's the message?"

"Tell him I'm ready to share." Oliver said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Marcos frowned.

"Does it matter?"

"It does if I'm about to make a jack ass of myself." Marcos laughed.

"Just tell him that I'm ready to share." Oliver said before turning away.

"Whatever." Marcos stopped. "You need a ride?"

"No, I'll walk." Oliver shook his head, finally feeling like he was doing something.

*********

It was another three days before Oliver heard anything back. "I got a message for you." Marcos said shoving a box in Oliver's hands.

"So give it to me." Oliver grunted stacking the box on the pallet.

"Christ I feel like an idiot." Marcos snorted.

"Just give me the message." Oliver panted. He'd been moving boxes all morning and he wasn't in the mood for this.

"He said, 'Why should I share with you? I've already taken all your toys'." Marcos shoved another box at Oliver.

"Is that it?" Oliver dropped the box hard and sighed.

"No." Marcos stopped. "He said to let him know if you could make it worth his while." Oliver smiled and opened his mouth but Marcos held up a hand. "Not through me, give him a call. I'm tired of playing telephone." He passed Oliver a card. "I'm not an eight year old girl you know."

"Thanks Marcos." Oliver slipped the card in his pocket and turned away.

"Hey, we've got three more pallets to stack." Marcos called after him.

"Not me." Oliver smirked. "I got what I came here for. I quit."

"You…you can't just quit." Marcos protested but Oliver just waved goodbye at him.

********

He thought this was all very cliché. Meeting a mob boss in an Italian restaurant. It was the epitome of cliché, but he supposed this was an old fashioned business, one that thrived on cliché. "Sorry I'm late." Carmine walked in and the whole restaurant went still for a minute. His jacket was taken, his chair pulled out and a bottle of wine decanted and left to breathe on the table within seconds and Oliver had to be impressed with the efficiency of the whole thing.

"It's no problem." Oliver stood and waited for Carmine to sit. "I'm at your disposal now aren't I?" Jack pulled up a chair and sat down between the two of them.

"I suppose you are." Carmine smirked. "How's life on the other side of things."

"Fine." Oliver said. "Except you see, my girl wants to get married." He leaned back in his chair. "And I want to give her the wedding she deserves."

"I don't really see that happening, what with the little they pay you down at the docks." Carmine poured a glass of wine for each of them. "Oh but then you quit that job didn't you?"

"Yeah I was hoping for something, better." Oliver said.

"You have something in mind?"

"I was thinking my old job." Oliver shrugged. "What do you think?" Carmine laughed in appreciation. "You need me."

Carmine laughed. "I've got everything I need from you thanks."

"No, Charlie, you really don't." Oliver leaned back in his chair and looked around the restaurant like he owned the place. Carmine didn't miss the way Oliver called him Charlie. "See I can give you what every two bit Mobster spends his whole life dreaming of."

"What's that?" Carmine sipped his wine.

"Legitimacy." Oliver grabbed his own cup. "Where's the waitress?" He asked smirking. "I'm starving." Carmine snapped his fingers and a woman came running. "Dinner's on you right? I just quit my job." Carmine nodded at the waitress. "Just one thing and this is important." Oliver leaned forward serious, no trace of the smart ass from before. "Chloe is off limits. She knows nothing, she hears nothing, she sees nothing. You don't bring her into this and we don't have a problem. That's a deal breaker."

"I believe I'm at your disposal." Carmine smiled.

*******

Just like that he was back, it was all back. The money, the business, the house, his things. Chloe didn't ask questions and Oliver found that probably the most disturbing thing of all. Granted he wasn't exactly ready to tell her everything so he was slightly glad that her innate reporter's curiosity wasn't piqued yet. There were still a few things he had to do. Which is how he found himself sitting in lobby of the FBI's San Diego field office twiddling his thumb for three hours. "Mr. Queen?" A man walked out looking bored.

"You're Conner Mason?" Oliver asked.

"Special Agent Conner Mason." Mason nodded. "What can I do for you today?"

"I think it's more about what I can do for you." Oliver smiled. "I flew more than 700 miles can we possibly get out of the lobby?"

"That depends." Mason rubbed his eyes. "On what exactly it is you think you can do for me."

"I can deliver you Carmine Luciano on a silver platter." Oliver explained. Mason looked up slowly and started at him. Oliver has asked for him specifically. He'd be put on the Luciano case the second the guy stepped foot in the country and had been trying for years to get something on the guy. He was probably the only other person in the world that would go after Luciano with the intensity that Oliver would. Mason's face split into a grin.

"Pam, can you show Mr. Queen to my office and then find out if my partner plans on coming in at any point today? We've got some work to do." Mason smiled at the woman at the front desk.

"Of course." Pam smiled and led Oliver to the back rooms.

It worked fine for the first couple of months. Oliver was back on top; he did what he needed to do with Carmine, reported everything back to the FBI, and kept Chloe busy with the most anal retentive wedding planner he could find. Then one day Jake cornered him in the Stout Goat dragging him into the alley and shoving him into a dumpster. "What the hell Queen?"

"I believe you threw me into the dumpster." Oliver rubbed his nose and leaned against the dumpster. "Am I bleeding?"

"You are an ass." Jake said. "Carmine Luciano. Carmine fucking Luciano."

"Yeah? What about him?" Oliver asked.

"The mob?" Jake kicked the dumpster. "Can even you be that stupid?"

"I had to do it." Oliver said. "I had to. He took everything from me, absolutely everything and I had to get it back."

"By going into business with the mob?" The way Jake looked at him, he wanted to confess, tell Jake everything, about the FBI, about it all but he didn't, he didn't say anything and Jake just slid down and sat next to him. "Does Chloe know?"

"God no." Oliver turned to him. "And you can't tell her, you can't say anything."

"Oliver…"

"You can't say anything." Oliver said seriously.

"Fine." Jake agreed.

"I'll make this up to you." Oliver swore standing up and pulling Jake with him. "Now come on, you owe me a rematch."

"What you want to make it 29 to 0?" Jake joked.

"One day I'm going to beat you." Oliver said.

"Yeah right." Jake knocked his shoulder.

******

The wedding was driving not only himself but Chloe crazy. He felt bad about it, he really did. He knew this wasn't the wedding she wanted, he knew she was happy with her vintage wedding dress and her reception at the Stout Goat but it was keeping her occupied, it was keeping her thinking about the wedding and not thinking about any suspicious behavior Oliver was exhibiting.

He was having a hard enough time keeping her and the team away from all of Carmine's illegal activities, for one thing there were so many of them. She was doing what she did best, finding patterns, making connections. Unfortunately all roads led back to Oliver and he couldn't have that. So he reminded her that criminals were better left to the police to handle and they had more pressing things to spend their time on, things that the police weren't equipped to handle and they should put their energy into those things.

Patience was wearing pretty thin these days and Oliver would be glad when it was all over. "Chloe, wait, Chloe I don't understand a word you're saying can you please slow down?" Oliver looked over at Mason who smiled and grabbed a fry from the box on the table.

"Everything ok?" Mason asked.

"There's some sort of problem with peacocks." Oliver whispered.

"Peacocks?" Mason asked shaking his head. "Rich people are weird."

"Tell me about it." Oliver sighed. "Chloe. Look the faster I can get out of here the sooner I can get home and help you out with the Peacock dilemma. Great, love you too." Oliver hung up the phone and fell into the chair opposite Mason. "So we've got Peacocks now. I'm going to hell for this."

"Just a little while longer." Mason assured him cleaning up the take out containers. "I'm just as anxious for this to be over as you are." Mason stretched. "You think I like living out of a crappy motel room?"

"Not really your style?"

"Not really." Mason shook his head.

"I never asked." Oliver turned to him. "What is your style?" Mason looked at him confused. "Where is home? You got a little condo in San Diego? Living the bachelor life?"

"House." Mason smiled. "The whole nine yards, wife and 2.5 kids. Even got a dog."

"Really?" Oliver paused. He'd never thought to put Mason and wife and kids in the same context. "How does one have 2.5 kids? I always wondered that."

"One on the way." Mason told him. "Enough about me. All we need is the container numbers. Then when you're safely on a plane to Morocco we'll move on Luciano and his whole organization."

"And no witness protection?" Oliver asked, he'd have a hard enough time explaining everything else to Chloe.

"I think we all understood coming into this that was never going to be an option with you." Mason shook his head. "Which is why we've got to take everyone down, that way there's no one left to go after you."

"We're only two weeks out now. You'll be there right?" Oliver swallowed. "At the wedding."

Mason nodded reassuringly. "You should have seen the look on my boss' face when I put in the requisition for a portable coffee cart."

"And you do know how to make coffee?" Oliver checked. "Because if there is one thing Chloe takes seriously, it's coffee."

"Four years at Starbucks." Mason said. "Its how I put my way through college."

"I shouldn't be worried should I?" Oliver asked as Mason opened the motel room door and Oliver stepped outside. "That you want to be there?"

Mason didn't falter. "Standard operating procedure." He lied. "It's a big party; we'd feel more comfortable if we could keep our eyes on the two of you from a little bit closer than a van across the street."

"Ok." Oliver sighed. "So all I need are the container numbers. I can do that." He clapped Mason on the back and walked to the car, trying to figure out from the brief conversation he'd had with Chloe if he was supposed to be Pro-Peacock or Anti-Peacock. He never saw the man watching him from the shadows, the man who had been watching him from the shadows for a few weeks now, but Mason did.

**********

Two weeks came and went and Oliver still hadn't managed to get his hands on the container numbers. Mason was worried, even though he wasn't letting it show. Oliver really wanted to have the whole thing resolved before they left for their honeymoon. He really didn't relish the idea of starting off his married life with this hanging over them but at this point there was nothing he could do. The ceremony was over, the reception winding down and his flight left in a little under ten hours.

The whole day had been perfect, despite the fact that neither of them actually wanted this wedding. The whole thing had gone off without a hitch…well with two hitches. One being Bart and the other being a rather unfortunate incident involving Sissy Parker and a very angry peacock. Oliver was actually convinced that everything was going to be ok until he saw Carmine standing on the balcony of the Marquee Hotel, talking to his wife.

Oliver opened the door as Carmine reached behind Chloe's ear and pulled out a single white tulip bud. "A lovely flower for a lovely woman." He smiled, slipping it behind her ear.

Oliver reached out and grabbed Chloe's elbow and she turned around. "Chloe." His voice was low and strange. "Lois is looking for you."

"Oh, I was just…" Chloe turned back to Carmine.

"I think she's headed home, wanted to say goodbye." Oliver's gaze never left Carmine's.

"Right." Chloe smiled at Carmine. "It was nice to meet you."

"You too." He said with sad smile on his face. As she walked to the door Carmine turned to Oliver and shook his head. "It's a shame, she makes a lovely bride."

"What are you doing here?" Oliver asked him none too kindly.

"I was insulted. I didn't get an invite to the wedding." Carmine pretended to pout.

"We had a deal. You and this life…they don't mix." Oliver reminded him.

"I just wanted to see you." Carmine said. "I think of you like family you know. A son I never had."

"I know." Oliver nodded.

"It is easy to forgive family their faults." Carmine pointed out. "If they confess and ask for forgiveness." He grabbed Oliver's cheeks and forced him to look in his eyes. "In that vein, is there something you'd like to confess?"

Oliver stared into Carmine's eyes and swallowed. "No."

"I see." Carmine dropped his hands. "It was a lovely ceremony. Enjoy your honeymoon."

"Hey Charlie." Oliver called out as he headed for the glass doors. "Look I was thinking I've got a warehouse downtown, recently emptied. When the cargo gets here we could store it there. No one knows about it, it's much safer than having it sitting in the port."

"Is that so?" Carmine asked.

"Yeah, so if you want to give me the numbers of the shipping containers…"

"We'll talk business when you get back." Carmine smiled at him. "It's your wedding day."

"Right, sure." Oliver nodded. After he was sure Carmine was gone, Oliver heard movement.

"That was strange." Mason stepped out of the shadows and walked over to Oliver. "What was all that stuff about forgiveness and confessions?"

"You think my covers blown?" Oliver asked.

"I think I'll put an extra man on your house for the night. Have someone follow you to the airport tomorrow." Mason yawned.

"You're worried." Oliver said.

"I'm cautious." Mason corrected him. "You can pull out." Mason turned to Oliver. "We've got more than enough to put him and his guys away for life. You can pull out now and no one will think any less of you."

"And the shipping containers?" Oliver raised his eyebrow.

"There are other ways to get the information." Mason reminded him.

"Ways that you've been trying for almost two months now with no luck." Oliver sighed. "I'm in this, I might as well stay in."

"Your call." Mason nodded at him. "I'll see you when you get back from Morocco."

"Sure." Oliver smiled. "And thanks."

"Just doing my job." Mason assured him. "You should get your wife home, get some sleep. You've got an early flight."

"I'll get right on that." Oliver walked back into the hotel.

*********

They should have gone home, or Oliver should have at least told Mason what he was planning but something stopped him. He wanted Chloe to have something, just one thing that day that had nothing to do with the FBI. He'd manipulated her into that huge wedding so that he could do what he needed to do without her getting involved. He'd had her basically under a microscope all day with Mason following her around, and though she didn't know that, it didn't make it any better.

But at the Stout Goat, it wasn't about mobsters or the FBI or any of that stuff. It was about celebrating with their friends, with their family, it was about making Chloe happy. So he didn't tell Mason and that was probably his first mistake. When they were leaving Jake grabbed his arm and pulled him aside. "What did you do?"

"What do you mean?" Oliver asked him confused.

"Marco called me. Wanted to give me a heads up because he says you were a stand up guy. Carmine is pissed at you." Oliver blanched. "What did you do?"

"I…nothing." Oliver shook his head.

"Bullshit." Jake snapped at him. "Whatever reasons you used to justify all this were complete bullshit. This wasn't for Chloe, this was for you. It was selfish and stupid and now you're going to get yourself killed."

"That's not fair." Oliver glared at him.

"Not fair?" Jake laughed. "You see her?" He pointed to the car where Mary was laughing at something a sleepy Chloe was saying. "She is your wife now, and she is the only thing that matters. Not your money or your houses or any of that crap. She is it and I swear to God if you don't do everything in your power to keep her safe I will take matters into my own hands."

"One more thing." Oliver said to him after a second of silence. "I just have to do one more thing and then I'm out."

"You think it's that easy?" Jake scoffed.

"Just, trust me ok." Oliver turned around. "It may not seem like it, but I am doing this for her. Just trust me."

Jake simply shook his head and walked away. The drive back to the house was tense but Oliver tried not to let it show. If they could just get to the house then to the airport they'd be fine. Then they'd be in Morocco for two weeks and they'd be untouchable, Chloe would be safe.

Oliver knew when he saw the car sitting in the middle of the road, when he saw Jack leaning up against the passenger side door, smiling like Christmas had just come early that they'd never make it to the house, they'd never make it to the airport, and they'd never make it to Morocco.

Even as he tried to pull Chloe free, the get her out so that they could make a run for it, he knew it was futile. The point was only further driven home when he was pulled from the car and dragged away from her. Oliver lashed out, giving as good as he got for a brief moment but it was one against three and his head was killing him and Chloe was screaming.

"Here's how this is going to work." Jack told him. "You're going to tell me exactly how much the FBI knows and you're going to tell me succinctly and politely."

"Fuck you." Oliver growled.

"I see." Jake made a move toward the car as the two thugs shoved him to the ground, the same two who had been there when Oliver had his first meeting with Carmine. He turned his head and noticed the fourth guy, someone he'd never seen before glaring at him. "You touch her and I swear to God." Oliver called over to Jack who just smiled and crouched down and said something that made Chloe stop screaming. They talked for a while and then Jack stood up and looked at Oliver over the undercarriage of the car. "Boys, let's show Mr. Queen that we mean business shall we? He's very fond of his right arm I'm sure. That's what makes him such a crack shot with the bow after all."

Before Oliver could figure out what Jack meant one of the thugs grabbed his right arm, straightened it out and then pulled it down, slamming it into his knee. He heard the crack of his elbow before he felt the pain. When he felt the pain he screamed, then he threw up. It took him a minute to get himself back under control, to keep himself from passing out but he managed it, barely. Jack was talking to Chloe again and then he stood up and walked back toward the road.

"Shoot him." He called over his shoulder. "In the leg, just enough so he can't run, then put him in the car."

The guy that Oliver had never met before pushed back the edges of his jacket and reached for the gun sitting in his holster. Oliver could have sworn he saw a flash of something that looked suspiciously like a badge before the man cocked the gun, aimed and fired. He screamed again, unable to stop himself but this time there was no way to get back under control. The adrenaline pumping through his veins was severely outweighed by the pain and the blood loss and he passed out, praying against all odds that Chloe would make it out of there.

********

"Right. You don't talk, every again. At all." Chloe said to Mason and then stood up. "Ok then. New plan, let's get to work." Chloe jumped up as everyone else in the room stared, still slightly dumfounded at Mason's story.

"Chloe?" Bart stepped forward.

"Let's get to work." She said in a tone that left no room for argument.

"Ok." Bart nodded.

"What have we got?" Chloe turned to Victor.

"I've finished sorting through shoe prints, weeding out any police or rescue workers." He patted two piles of pictures on the table top. "Now I've just got to go through the left over's and see if I can make a positive ID."

Chloe looked down at the piles and froze as something caught her attention. "What's this?" Chloe stared at picture of the shoe on the top of the pile. "Is this the discard pile?"

"Yeah." Victor nodded. "Those are the shoes that were supposed to be there."

"I know these shoes." Chloe sat down.

"I know these too." Lois tore the picture away from Chloe's hand and wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Detective Love."

"Detective Love?" Chloe tore the picture back and stared at them.

"Yeah, the scum bag who thinks you married then murdered Oliver for his money." Lois told her.

"Son of a bitch." Chloe breathed out, followed by a humorless laugh.

"Is there something we're missing?" Victor turned to her and she just nodded. "Care to share with the rest of the class?"

"Tell me something Victor." Chloe set down the picture. "When did Detective Love visit the accident site?"

"I don't know, must have been earlier today at some point." Victor shrugged.

Wise stepped up. "But he hasn't left since he came in this morning. He's been skulking around."

"Pull up the security camera feed."

"You can't…oh screw it." Mia shrugged, giving up all pretense that she was in any way in charge of this situation. "Pull up the damn feed." She sat down next to Victor as he hacked into the feed.

"Ok, so Bart found the site around 12:30." Chloe pointed out. "First responders would have gotten there around…"

"12:45." Mia said.

"12:45." Victor nodded. "There, he's in the squad room."

"It's 5:30 now." Chloe leaned over his shoulder. "Follow him; see if he leaves the station at any time." She got up and paced the room as Victor worked his magic.

"What are you thinking?" Dinah followed Chloe with her eyes as everyone else watched Victor's monitor.

"I'm thinking that Detective Love has been in this building since I got here this morning." Chloe paced back and forth. "I'm thinking that if Detective Love's shoe prints were found at the scene then they got there before the police did. But mainly I'm thinking that I recognize those shoes."

"_What about his wife?" Another voice, a rough voice, asked and Chloe moved her head, tears streaming down her face, listening intently, staring at the men's shoes. She had to keep her eyes on the shoes because if she looked in the other direction she would see the seemingly lifeless body of Oliver being dragged away. _

"He's here." Victor turned around, shaking his head. "All day long, doesn't even go outside for a smoke."

"If he was here all day, he was there last night." Chloe bent over and braced her hands on her knees. "If he was there last night he knows where Oliver is. All you need is….Love." Chloe laughed, unable to stop herself.

"So wait you're saying what exactly?" Lois asked.

"He's dirty." Chloe stood up straight.

"Yes." Mason spoke up for the first time since Chloe ordered him silent. She turned and glared at him. "We didn't know for sure." He held up his hands.

"You didn't know for sure if his cover was blown, you didn't know for sure if Love was dirty. True or False." Chloe clenched her jaw. "The things about this case that you don't 'know for sure' could fill the freaking Gobi Desert." She stepped closer to Mason and he said nothing.

*********

"Ok, so if the girl gets the money together and he's still not talking, we take the money and cut our losses." Jack explained to the two thugs. "Three way split."

"And then we kill him?" The taller man asked in perfect Italian.

"Yes, then you kill him." Jack answered back in perfect Italian.

"Oh how I wish I hadn't taken that semester in Italy." Oliver sighed. "Then I could pretend you guys were talking about Biscotti." Jack's lips twitched into a smile.

**********

"True or False." Chloe moved even closer to Mason. "You're probably a better barista then you are an FBI agent."

"Hey." Mason snapped at her.

"You let them take Oliver." Chloe pointed out. "Your job was to protect him, protect me and you failed at it miserably."

"He didn't tell us about the second reception." Mason pointed out. "None of this would have happened if he'd just…" Chloe slapped him hard across the face.

"Chloe." Mason pleaded with her.

"Don't speak." She was shaking with rage.

**********

"Last chance." Jack smiled. "Tell me how much they know; tell me how much you told them…"

"And you'll let me live?" Oliver snorted in disbelief.

"Cute." Jack shook his head. "That was never going to be an option and you know it. You're lucky I'm in such a rush that I'm not going to have the time to kill you myself." The sad thing was, and Oliver knew, that was very, very lucky. "How about this, tell me what they know, and I'll let Chloe live."

Oliver grunted, pulling uselessly at his restraints.

**********

"Don't you dare try and blame this on Oliver. You knew something was wrong, and you screwed up. Look me in the eye and tell me that this is not your fault." Chloe asked Mason, so close now he could feel her breath on his skin.

"I can't." Mason admitted.

For a second, one second it seemed as if Chloe would stand down, walk away. Then almost too fast for even Bart to catch, Chloe's hand shot forward gripping Mason's wrist and spinning him around. She trapped his hand behind his back and lifted his shirt tails, relieving the Special Agent of his service revolver.

She shoved Mason away, checking to see the safety was on and then slipping it in the waistband of her own pants.

********

"I warned you." Oliver shook his head. "I told you from the very beginning not to involve my wife in this, it was part of the deal and you broke it."

"I'm…what's that quaint American phrase, oh yes, shaking in my boots." Jack turned around. "You're not in any position to do…anything to me are you?"

********

"Chloe!" Victor jumped from his seat as she stalked to the door. "Chloe what are you doing?"

"I'm going to get my husband." Chloe said.

"Ms. Queen." She stopped at the sound of a gun cocking and turned to see Sergeant Wise pointing his weapon at her. "I can't let you walk out that door."

"Chloe think about this." Mia stepped forward, blocking the door. "Outside this door is a room full of cops, followed by a parking lot full of cops. How far are you going to get."

"Love knows where he is. I'm going to get my husband." Chloe said calmly. "So either get out of my way or shoot me."

********

"You don't understand." Oliver shook his head in amusement. "It's not me you should be worried about. You pissed off the wrong woman, and I can't be held responsible for what happens next."

* * *

Author's Note: Wow, this was quite ridiculously long but I felt it was time that Oliver's story was finally told and when I started writing it, it just got away from me. Hope you enjoyed.


	8. Chapter 8

Chloe closed the door behind her and took a deep breath. She looked down at her hands and clenched her fists to stop them from shaking. Each step she took down the hall echoed loudly in her head and then she realized that it wasn't her steps, it was her heart beat. The pounding of the blood in her veins drowned out all the other sounds in the station. The cold steal of Mason's service weapon dug into the small of her back.

Mia's words kept echoing in her head. _"Outside this door is a room full of cops, followed by a parking lot full of cops. How far are you going to get." _

All of the officer's she passed gave her a sad smile and she used that to her advantage. Playing on their poor little traumatized victim assumptions would make sure they would never know her true intentions until it was too late.

She stopped in front of Detective Love's desk and stared down at him. He seemed to sense that she was there and lifted his head up. Surprise flittered across his face very briefly and Chloe almost didn't catch it before it was replaced by a slick grin. "Mrs. Queen." Love stood up.

"I hear you want to talk to me." Chloe said, surprised that her voice was strong and didn't waiver.

"Yeah." He closed the file on his desk. "Yeah." He looked around the station. "How about we go somewhere more private."

"Good." Chloe smiled at him. "Lead the way."

Love smiled and walked down the hall toward the interrogation rooms. He stopped at the last one in the hall and Chloe let her gaze flow past him to the back door. "Do you think…" Her eyes flickered back to Love. "Do you think we could get out of here? It's just…I've been cooped up here all day and I'm getting a bit of cabin fever."

Love's smile got larger and Chloe knew what he was thinking. He was thinking that she was playing right into his hand and she couldn't help but smile back, thinking about how she was going to turn the tables on him and he'd never see it coming. "Sure." Love moved on toward the door and Chloe followed, one hand moving slowly to the small of her back.

Love couldn't believe his luck. All day long, all he'd been trying to do was get the girl alone, just one moment alone with her was all he needed. Being stuck in the police station was an obstacle that he could overcome, if only he could just get her alone, he'd figure out the rest. Now she as basically offering herself up to him on a silver platter and he hadn't had to do a damn thing. "I'm glad we're finally getting the chance to talk." He said as he pushed the door open emerging behind the building.

"Yeah, me too." Chloe said as the door shut closed behind her. They walked along the back of the building then turned the corner into the alley between the police station and the building next door "But there's really just one thing I have to say to you." Chloe told him.

Love dug in his pocket for his keys. "What's that?" He asked absentmindedly and the resulting silence made him stop. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing up. He turned around slowly and found himself staring down the barrel of a Glock 23.

"Take me to my husband." Chloe said calmly, staring at him with a cold detachment.

"Ms. Queen." Love slowly raised his hands in the air.

"Right, sorry." Chloe reached out and cocked the gun then brought it back up, aiming it straight for the spot between Love's eyes. "Take me to husband, please." She smiled this time.

"I don't know what…" Chloe moved the gun slightly to the left and squeezed the trigger then brought it back to its previous position.

The bullet grazed so close to Love's face his skin was burning where it passed. "Next one goes in your knee cap. The same place you shot Oliver this morning." Chloe said. "I'm only going to ask you one more time. Take me to my husband."

"Ok." Love tried to step back but Chloe shook her head and he stopped his movements immediately.

"Love?" Sophia's voice called from the back of the station. "Hey, Love. Nolan saw you come out here."

"Let me get rid of her." Love said. "Then we'll go, promise. I'll take you to Oliver."

Chloe stared at him then nodded. She stepped forward, reached into his jacket and pulled his gun out of its holster, slipping it into the back of her pants. She lowered Mason's gun to her side just as Sophia turned the corner. "Hey what's going on?"

"Ms. Queen just needed some air." Love said. "We're gonna take a walk."

"I'll come with." Sophia stepped closer.

"No, really that's fine." Love shook his head. "Don't you have some paper work that you need to do."

"I can finish it later." Sophia shook her head.

"Look." Love stepped closer and grabbed her arm, moving her back toward the station. "She wants to talk and I think she might be more comfortable if it's just the two of us."

"You sure?" Sophia looked over his shoulder to Chloe.

"I got this." Love nodded and turned around.

Sophia turned back to them. "You know, I think it might be better if…" Love didn't have the time to warn her. There was only a split second between when Chloe lifted her arm and when she pulled the trigger, once then twice. He turned around and saw Sophia's body jerk then fall to the ground.

"What the hell was that?" Love screamed at Chloe. "She had nothing to do with this."

"You really expect me to believe that?" Chloe shook her head. "She's your partner."

"She was oblivious. She had nothing to do with this." Love snapped. "I was just about to get her to leave."

"You were taking too long." Chloe said humorlessly. Love stood there and just stared at her as if she'd just grown a second head. "Hey I just shot a straight cop." Chloe pointed out to him. "What makes you think I have any problem shooting a dirty one?" She lifted the gun up again.

"Ok." Love raised his hands. "Ok."

Now that she'd made it this far Chloe stopped and looked around, trying to figure out where to go from here. She had no car and Love's was probably parked up front with everyone else's. She started to panic all of a sudden. She'd been running on anger and adrenaline that had given her some false sense of bravado and now it was crumbling down around her.

Her hand started to shake and she was hoping Love didn't notice when she heard the familiar purr of a perfectly tuned V-12 engine. Chloe stepped back as Oliver's Ferrari Enzo drifted around the corner into the alleyway and screeched to a halt in front of her. The door opened and suddenly Bart was standing at Chloe's side. He'd appeared right when she needed him, much like he always did, as if he had some sixth sense. "Don't worry, I'm not going to try and talk you out of this." He held out his hand to her and Chloe mirrored his movements instinctively, her hand palm up under his as he dropped the keys into it. "Figured you were in a hurry." He shrugged, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "I left you a little present in the trunk."

Chloe suddenly felt like she could do this, the mix of emotions from earlier were slowly being replaced by a real sense of calm assuredness. She took a deep breath and smiled. "You really are my favorite."

"I know." Bart nodded and then he was gone again.

"How the hell…"

"Really not what you need to be worried about at the moment." Chloe turned her attention back to Love and gripped the keys tightly in her hand. "In the car." She glared at him, the gun never wavering as he slid into the passenger seat. Chloe reached behind him and pulled his cuffs out. "Hand's behind your head." She motioned and he obeyed as she slipped the cuffs on one wrist weaved it through the two holes in the headrest and then cuffed the other wrist, effectively holding him in place.

"This isn't the least bit comfortable." Love grunted. He looked like an idiot and Chloe knew that his hands would fall asleep relatively soon if he kept them in that position but she didn't care.

"I don't care." She said before slamming her door shut, slipping the car into gear and backing out of the alleyway onto the city street. "Where are we going?"

"Are you familiar with Clearwater Ridge?" Love asked.

"Yeah." Chloe nodded turning left at the next intersection, ignoring the protests of the other cars when she didn't bother to wait for an arrow. Clearwater Ridge was a secluded area in the foothills of the Cascade Range Mountains. Oliver had taken her up there just a few months before the wedding for a respite when she was threatening to kill the wedding planner.

**************

"_What exactly are we going to do in the mountains for a whole weekend?" Chloe asked pulling her bag from the back of the SUV. _

"_It's nature. It's peaceful and beautiful and serene." He explained grabbing the bag from her and walking up the porch steps. "We could go hiking." Oliver offered as he unlocked the door to the cabin. "There are a lot of great trails up here." _

"_Right, have you ever seen me as the type of person who goes hiking?" Chloe smirked at him. _

"_Fly fishing?" He held the door open for her and led her inside. _

"_Is that the one where you stand around in the water for hours and do nothing?" Chloe wrinkled her nose and Oliver chuckled. "Not exactly my idea of entertainment."_

"_I know one thing that never fails to keep you entertained." He dropped their bags just inside the front door and grabbed her quickly by the waist, pulling her flush up against him. "And you don't even have to leave the cabin to do it." He whispered in her ear. _

"_Ok, I'm liking the mountains more and more." Chloe smirked as he kissed his way down her neck. "Where's the bedroom?" _

"_Don't know." Oliver spun her around quickly, lifting her up in one smooth motion, cradling her in his arms. "Let's find out." She laughed as he headed off down the hallway. _

_They eventually found the bedroom much much later after testing out quite a few of the other rooms. Chloe lay content on the plush mattress, her back warm against Oliver's chest, his fingers lightly tracing random shapes on the exposed flesh of her hip. The window right next to the bed afforded them an amazing view of the crystal clear lake and the awesome forest that surrounded them, isolating them from the world. "It is pretty peaceful out here." Chloe murmured sleepily as she dug her head further into the soft pillow. _

"_You like it?" Oliver's lips were right by her ear and the rumble of his voice along with the small puffs of air that escaped when he talked were doing wonderfully tingly things up and down Chloe's spine. "We could stay here. Just the two of us." _

"_Forever?" Chloe reached up and grabbed his hand, intertwining their fingers. _

"_Sure, if you like." He placed a soft kiss on the tip of her shoulder blade._

"_Sounds great." She smiled and rolled over so that she was facing him. "But I'm afraid if I don't show up on Monday, Lisa will stage a coup and take over the wedding." _

"_Oh babe." Oliver brushed the hair off her forehead. "I'm pretty sure that happened a long long time ago." _

_Chloe laughed and leaned forward, burrowing her head into the crook of his neck and sighing happily. "Ok then, we'll move here." She mumbled as she fell asleep. "But you're the one who has to break the news to Bart." Oliver's deep laugh instantly lulled her to sleep._

_*************_

"I know the place." Chloe shook herself out of the memory determined as she turned off the main road and onto the scenic highway that would take them up into the Mountains. She waited until they were a good ten minutes outside of the city before shifting gears and really opening the car up, jerking Love forward with the sudden acceleration as they sped away toward Oliver.

**************

"Turn right up here." Love said, startling Chloe from her thoughts almost an hour later as they drove deeper into the mountains. She nodded following his directions through backwater roads. "The cabin's just on the other side of the hill." He told her and she pulled off the trail and slid to a stop. She un-cuffed him from the seat and prodded him once more with the gun to get out of the car. They walked up to the crest of the hill and looked down onto the cabin.

"Son of a bitch." Chloe mumbled under her breath as she stared down at the exact same cabin that she'd visited with Oliver just two months before. "Does this place belong to Luciano?" Chloe asked Love who nodded confused. "I can't believe he took me to a cabin owned by a mob boss. I'm so going to kick his ass." She mumbled before pulling the detective back toward the car.

She recuffed his wrists behind his back and opened the trunk. She pulled out the duffel bag that Bart had left for her, digging through the supplies, wracking her brain for a way in as she mumbled all of the things she was going to do to Oliver once she finally got him back. "I wish I had a freaking grappling hook." She sighed in frustration. "Oh well this will have to do." She tossed the bag over her shoulder and gave Love a small shove toward the edge of the hill.

He eyed the steep incline wearily and turned to Chloe then back to the hill. "You can't possibly expect me to climb down that with my hands behind my back. I'll fall and break my neck."

"You'd be doing me a favor then." Chloe nudged him harder and he slid a ways down before regaining his footing. "Just be really careful." Chloe said as she started down the hill after him. They came up around the back of the cabin. There were no guards, no one standing watch and Chloe thought for one fleeting moment that this was going to be easy. "Stay quiet." She whispered to Love. "Now you can promise me like a good boy or I can gag you with my sock. Your choice."

"I promise." He sneered at her and she pulled him forward. The cabin itself was up on stilts, about one story up off the ground. Chloe dropped her bag, digging through it for a minute until she emerged with something in her fists.

"What's that?" Love tried to catch a glimpse of the object.

"It's…nothing. It's a thingy." Chloe slipped it in her back pocket along with a screwdriver.

"Wow, sounds technical." Love snorted and Chloe glared.

"It is actually, very technical." Chloe grunted pushing him toward the house, positioning him exactly. "It's a small device that sends out a very concentrated EM pulse." She turned him around so that his back was to her. She slid the gun in her waistband and took off her socks and shoes. "Cup your hands." He followed her orders and only grunted slightly as she slipped her foot into his palms, clamped her hands on his shoulders and pulled herself up. "When I attach it to the breaker box, it'll cut the power." She moved her hands to his head and her feet to his shoulders and then stood.

"How did you know that was up there?" Love asked when he realized that Chloe had lined him up right underneath the box.

"I've been here before." She grunted pulling the cover open and grabbing the screwdriver from her back pocket. She got to work removing the front panel.

*********

_Chloe stared around the pitch black room slightly annoyed. "Anything?" She called out into the house. _

"_Good news is, I found the breaker box." Oliver called out from the front door. "Bad news is, I can't reach it."_

"_You can't reach it?" Chloe called after him. "What do you mean you can't reach it?" _

"_I mean I can't reach it. You want to come out here and help me?" Oliver called up. Chloe grunted and pulled on her jeans and a t-shirt. She padded down the steps, using her phone as a flashlight. They walked off the porch and around to the back of the house. _

"_You said I wouldn't have to leave the cabin." Chloe carefully tread through the forest floor in her bare feet. _

"_I wasn't expecting you to trip a breaker plugging in every piece of electronic equipment you ever owned." Oliver grunted. _

"_Yeah well I wasn't expecting Victor to call me at three in the morning from Santiago so I could help him crack a thirteen digit coded algorithm." Chloe snorted. "So where is this breaker box and what makes you think I can reach it when you can't." Chloe motioned the three extra feet that Oliver had on her. _

"_Want a boost?" Oliver leaned down and made a cradle with his fingers. Chloe smiled and allowed him to lift her up onto his shoulders._

_**********_

Chloe slipped the screwdriver back in her pocket and let the front panel drop to the ground. She attached the device to the breaker lines and then climbed down, making sure to shove her knee in Love's back. "Lights are still on." He grunted rotating his shoulders.

"Because I haven't turned it on yet." Chloe explained picking the bag up off the ground.

"Love?" A voice called from the general area of the front porch. "Is that you?" Chloe was at his side in an instant, the gun out as she put a finger to her lips and shook her head. "I thought the boss man told you not to come out here unless there was an emergency." Love didn't say anything so the guy came down the hill to investigate further and Chloe slid further into the shadows. "Love?" The guy stepped up to him. "What's going on man?"

Love glanced behind the guy's shoulder where Chloe was sneaking up on him. "Ray, run." Love said and Chloe glared as the man spun around on alert.

"Really?" Chloe asked Love as she threw her hands up to block a very clumsy right hook from Ray. "What exactly did you think that would accomplish?" Chloe asked him as she shoved her elbow in Ray's stomach, doubling him over and sending him to the ground. Love took off in the other direction and Chloe grabbed at his jacket and pulled him back to her. She reached down and scooped up one of her socks before shoving it in Love's mouth. Then she kicked out with her right leg, slamming it into Love's knee cap. She heard a sickening crunch and Love screamed soundlessly into the sock as he collapsed to the ground. "I'll deal with you in a minute." Chloe panted before turning her attention back to Ray.

He was up now, wheezing and looking at Chloe like he wanted nothing more than to tear her head from her body. She smiled and quirked a finger at him, urging him to bring it on. This she was good at, Oliver had trained her relentlessly almost every day for three years in hand to hand combat to make sure that she could take care of herself. _"We're the only people in a team of superheroes without any active useful superpower." _He used to say that to her when she complained about being tired or sore and didn't want to do it anymore.

He liked to call her his secret weapon. He said people would automatically underestimate her based on her age and her size and that she could use that to her advantage. Which she did, time and time again and this time wasn't any different. Ray lunged at Chloe, his movements sloppy and far too showy to cover up a lack of training and she dodged them all with quite a bit of ease. The way he was going, she could very likely just let this guy tire himself out but she didn't have time for that. Chloe crouched down, slipping under his arm and kicked him in the back which sent him stumbling face first into a tree.

Ray recovered quicker than Chloe thought he would, grabbed her hair and pulled her to her feet, spinning her around. She smirked when she saw his nose was bleeding. "Bitch." He spit out and wiped at his nose. Chloe knew that while her size and speed were generally an advantage in a fight, there was something to be said about a lot of anger combined with brute force, so when Ray lashed out with the back of his hand she just wasn't quick enough to dodge it and she went flying, her head slamming into the hard ground. He was really pissed now and Chloe could see a large vein pulsing on his neck.

She scrambled a little to the left and reached into her bag, digging frantically until her fingers curled around just the thing she was looking for. Just as Ray was about to pounce on her she raised the gun and fired, a small green dark appeared in Ray's neck, just left of the angry pulsing vein. Ray tried to lift his hand to pull the dart out but he never made it. He fell heavily to the ground and Chloe collapsed tiredly.

She pulled herself to her feet and caught her breath. "That was a really stupid move." Chloe looked down at Love. She walked over to him and dragged him by the armpits, cuffing him to one of the support posts. He was mumbling something about what he planned to do to Chloe that did not sound anatomically possible. "I told you if you couldn't be quiet this would happen." She reminded him. "And the only reason that wasn't a bullet was because shooting you would draw too much attention."

She reached down and squeezed his shattered kneecap with a smile on her face. His scream was again muffled by the sock and Chloe grabbed her bag, securing it over her shoulder as she decided on the best course of action. She could just walk through the front door guns blazing, but there was no scenario where that ended well.

"Up it is." She grunted, mumbling once again about a desire for a grappling hook as she walked to the closest tree, slid her foot in a small indentation in the truck, grabbed onto a low hanging branch and pulled herself up. She climbed higher and higher until she got to a branch that led out to a window.

She pulled herself onto the ledge, looked inside and saw a toilet and a marble topped vanity and shrugged, easing the window open. "She came in through the bathroom window." Chloe mumbled under her breath and she slid into the room, the tile surprisingly cold on her bare feet.

She recognized this as the downstairs hall bath and she padded quietly to the door, pressing her ear against the wood and almost sagging in relief when she heard Oliver's rather annoyed voice from the other room.

"Look, I get it, I really do." Oliver said to Jack as he paced back and forth in front of him. "You're either going to take the money from Chloe and kill me or I tell you what the FBI knows and then you kill me. Either way you're gonna me kill me so please, for the love of God, could you grant a dying man's last wish?" Jack turned to Oliver intrigued. "Scratch my nose?" Jack rolled his eyes. "It really, really itches." He complained.

"Mike scratch his nose so I can get some peace huh." Jack said offhandedly to the thug sitting at the table.

Mike grunted and walked over to Oliver, reaching out and scratching the side of his nose. "Oh, that's it, a little to the left, wow, you have no idea how amazing that feels." Oliver sighed in relief.

"Ok, that's just…enough." Mike pulled his hand away and turned around.

"That was a moment we just had there." Oliver said to the man's retreating back as he walked back to the table. "It was oddly intimate I know but you should feel weird about that."

Chloe laughed quietly in spite of herself and instantly relaxed. He was ok. He was joking around, being an ass it was likely there was no permanent damage done. She very quietly slid the door open and ventured a look. Oliver was sitting in the middle of the room, tied to a chair. His right arm was twisted at a strange angle and the gunshot wound to his leg had been patched up very poorly and it was obvious that someone had been using his face as a punching bag for the last eight hours or so, but he was still alive and that was all that mattered.

The television was on in the background and Chloe could hear what sounded like some sort of sporting event. Oliver was ribbing Jack about his sorry excuse for a team and Chloe reached into her bag for the remote to activate the EMP.

****************

Oliver caught a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye, turned his head a little to the left and froze. Chloe was crouched on the floor in the bathroom doorway digging through a large bag at her feet for something. He'd like to say that he was surprised to see her there but in all honesty he wasn't. He wanted her to be far away, so much further away from this place and this mess, _his_ mess but at the same time there was no other place on the planet he wanted her to be than right there, having his back. She looked up and caught his eye. Her face was covered in tiny red cuts from when the windshield shattered into the car, he lip was slightly swollen and split open, and her wrist was wrapped tightly with gauze but otherwise she looked ok.

Her whole body seemed to sag with relief when he looked over at her and for the first time in almost twenty four hours Oliver felt like everything was going to be ok. Then the smile fell from Chloe's face. He was alive, he was as well as can be expected and suddenly she was no longer worried. She was back at pissed. Oliver squinted as she mouthed something to him and he swallowed hard when he realized what she was saying. "You are in so much trouble."

He nodded, just slightly to let her know that he knew that and that seemed to calm her a bit. She held up five fingers then mimed covering her eyes with her hands and he nodded again to let her know he got the message. She opened her palm and Oliver caught a glimpse of something small as she pushed a button and the room went completely dark. The lights all went off at once, the television blinked out and Jack groaned. "Mike, go get Ray and fix this would you?" Jack called out from somewhere across the room. "I think we blew a fuse or something."

Oliver counted to five in his head and then screwed his eyes shut as tight as he could. He heard a soft clattering of something across the floor then Jack saying, "What was that?" Right as the back of eyes lit up a bright right and smoke surged into his lungs. A flash grenade.

He coughed as he sucked in more of the smoke and then he felt soft hands pulling at the ropes on his wrist and then Chloe's voice was in his ear. "It's ok, you can open your eyes." She whispered and he obeyed only to find himself inches away from her face.

"Chloe." He whispered, the need so deep in his voice that her hands stilled on the ropes. She abandoned them all together and brought her hands up to cup his cheeks lightly, pressing a small but desperate kiss on the small corner of his mouth that didn't look like raw hamburger meat.

"I am so going to kill you when we get out of here you know that right?"

"I know." He assured her, moving closer for another kiss. "I'm so sorry."

He never got that other kiss because she was pulled away from him violently and thrown across the room as Mike managed to regain some of his sight. Oliver started to scream for her as Mike got up and barreled toward her general direction but she must have anticipated this because she simple turned, pulling something from her waist. At the last second Oliver realized it was a gun and he blinked as she pulled the trigger and Mike went down.

Oliver stared in disbelief. Chloe didn't use guns, she didn't like guns, she refused to have them in her house, refused to have them on her team. Oliver wasn't even sure until moments ago that she knew how to work a gun.

"Tranquilizers?" Jack's crisp British accent cut through the roaring in his brain and he looked down at Mike's body to see that there was in fact no blood, no bullet hole, but rather a small green dart sticking out of his chest. "Is that really the best you can do luv?" Chloe closed her eyes in defeat, trying to catch her breath. "Stand up slowly and turn around, drop the gun."

Chloe pulled herself to her feet, her eyes never leaving Oliver's as Jack kept talking. "I was going to give you the benefit of the doubt. I'd left you to die in the desert and yet you lived. You caused and obscene amount of trouble for me but still, as long as I got my hundred million dollars, I was going to let you live. But now I'm afraid that's simply just not going to be possible. Unless you've got the money hidden somewhere on your person." He smirked as she let the tranq gun fall from her fingers to the floor.

"Sorry." Chloe said, her voice shaky. "But it's Saturday. All the banks were closed." She spun around rapidly, so quick that even Bart would have been impressed and as she spun around, she pulled yet another gun from her waistband and had it aimed at Jack's head. One glance at this gun and Oliver knew that it wasn't loaded with darts.

"Put the gun down Ms. Queen." Jack said slightly amused.

"You first." Chloe offered.

Jack sighed annoyed now and moved his gun from Chloe to Oliver. "Put the gun down or I shoot your husband." When Chloe didn't move he pressed on. "Honestly at this point I have absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain."

"Shoot him then and stop talking about it." Oliver's head jerked to Chloe. "After everything that's happened today, everything I've learned, I'm this close to shooting him myself." Wisely Oliver didn't say anything.

"That's interesting." Jack tilted his head to study her. "I almost believe that."

"Yeah well I almost mean it." She said harshly and Oliver winced. He deserved that.

"You're not a killer Ms. Queen. You're not going to shoot me." Jack tried to reason with her.

"I did promise to kill you." Chloe reminded him. "I always keep my promises."

"You also promised to slice off my testicles and feed them to a rabid dog." Jack pointed out.

"Give me five minutes and one phone call and that can be arranged." Chloe smirked at him.

"As lovely as this evening has been I really do think it's time to cut my losses and move on." Jack bowed his head slightly. "It was wonderful to meet you, I do wish it had been under better circumstances." Chloe saw his finger squeeze the trigger and closed her eyes thinking, _This wasn't how it was supposed to go. _

She heard the shots, two of them but she felt no pain. No sudden impact, no bullet tearing through her chest. When she opened her eyes she saw Jack lying on the ground, a pool of blood spreading out across the floor under him, and standing on the other side of the room was Carmine Luciano holding a gun. "Ms. Queen, what a pleasant surprise this is."

Chloe stared confused, wondering when exactly he'd gotten there as the man walked over to Jack and kicked him. "Such a shame I know, he was very good at his job." Carmine stole a glance at Oliver. "Except he couldn't get your husband to talk. Now I know you'd promised to kill him yourself but he was planning on double crossing me for a few million dollars." Chloe snorted, a hundred million was hardly a few. "It was a question of honor you see."

Carmine lowered his gun and suddenly Chloe felt very ridiculous standing in the middle of the room pointing her weapon at a dead man so she too lowered her gun. Carmine and Chloe stood on opposite sides of Oliver staring at each other.

"This is quite a mess we've got here isn't it?" Chloe asked.

"I don't relish this." Carmine said. "I want you to know that. I never wanted to involve you in this. I had hoped that your husband and I could work this out together."

"Well that was your first mistake wasn't it?" Chloe said to him. "Trying to deal with my husband."

"Is that so?"

"How exactly do you want this to end Carmine?" Chloe asked him. "Because the way I see it, right now, you've still got a few options."

"Please have a seat." Carmine smiled brightly and pulled out a chair at the table for Chloe.

Chloe mirrored his bright smile and somehow her feet moved forward of their own volition until she found herself sitting across from the man. She laid the gun heavily on the table, not taking her hand off the holster, keeping it pointed in Carmine's direction.

"Chloe." Oliver called out to her sharply.

"Hush now dear." Chloe glanced at him over her shoulder. "The grown-ups are talking."

Her voice was clipped and despite the relief he'd seen in her face when their eyes had first met he knew that she was hiding a sharp anger so he did what any good husband would do. He shut up and he let his wife take care of business.

***********

Love screamed out in pain once again as his hand slipped free of the handcuffs. His arms dropped to his side uselessly, they'd long since fallen asleep. He grabbed the sock out of his mouth and threw it to the floor, breathing heavily and trying to regain some of his composure. He gripped the thumb of his right hand and pulled forward hard, sliding it painfully back into socket. "I'm going to kill her." He grumbled.

**********

The guns were brushed to the side of the table, practically forgotten. Candles had been lit to illuminate the dark room a little more. "Can I offer you something to drink?" Carmine asked.

"No I'm fine." Chloe said.

Carmine walked over to the bar and poured himself a glass of scotch. "You drink red wine correct."

"Really I'm…" Chloe took a deep breath and thought back on the day that she had, she deserved a drink. "Yeah, I drink red." Carmine smiled and uncorked the bottle and poured her a glass.

"This wasn't how I wanted things to turn out you see." Carmine leaned back in his chair and got comfortable. "I thought that what we had was special." He looked over Chloe's shoulder at Oliver. "I thought we were really a team." He said this comment directly to Oliver. "This is especially not how I wanted to meet you my dear. I wanted to have you to my house for dinner. My wife cooks a wonderful veal piccata. So smooth it melts in your mouth." Carmine smiled. "I wanted us to be a family, all of us but your husband refused. He wanted to keep you away from me, keep you away from this, so I respected his wishes. That should have been my first clue I suppose."

"You really can't have been all that surprised when you found out." Chloe sipped her drink. "That he turned on you, ratted you out to the FBI."

"I was." Carmine said almost sadly.

"I don't know how you even fell for it the first place." Chloe set the glass on the table. "He gives to charity, he volunteers at soup kitchens and helps little old ladies cross the street. He doesn't even have a parking ticket to his name. How could you think for even one possible second that he would be crooked?"

"You have such faith in your husband." Carmine laughed. "That's sweet really, naive but sweet."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Chloe narrowed her eyes at him.

"Often times when I express an interest in doing business with someone, I start off by doing a little digging. I'm never looking for anything specific mind you but I always find something. A man cheating on his wife or girlfriend, which, you can rest assured, that is a crime your husband has never been guilty of, a penchant for gambling, a love of the drink. Anything that I can use to my advantage, something that lets me know they have a weak side, a side that can be exploited."

"Blackmail." Chloe raised her eyebrows.

"You call it blackmail, I call it incentive." Carmine corrected her. "Not with your husband though. You're right. There was nothing there. He was clean, almost too clean. So I dig a little deeper and then deeper still and finally, I find something. I always do."

"Really?"

"Did you know Ms. Queen that your husband, a man who so stoutly upholds the law, who donates all this time and money to charities and helps little old ladies cross the street has a secret? A big one in fact, almost a complete secret identity." Chloe leaned closer. "Your husband has a team of masked vigilantes Ms. Queen. He runs around the city at night, skirting the law that you claim he adores wearing green leather and working around the police. Your husband is in fact the Green Arrow Bandit." When Chloe said nothing but continued to stare at Carmine he seemed to falter a bit. "It's true. I've seen it with my own eyes."

"Actually it's not entirely true." Chloe said sipping her wine calmly. "He's not the Green Arrow Bandit. It's just the Green Arrow. And it's not his team." Chloe nodded vaguely into the darkness behind Carmine's head. "It's my team." She said with a smile, spinning the wine glass around in her fingers by the stem as Victor, Bart, AC, Dinah and Clark all emerged from the shadows converging on Carmine and the table as he looked around in astonishment and a little bit of fear. Chloe stood up and looked down at the big bad Mob boss and was pleased to find that all she saw now was a frightened old man.

"The tables have turned then." Carmine said almost amused.

"That they have." Chloe nodded and looked down at her watch. "Here's what's going to happen. You've got about fifteen minutes until this place is surrounded by the FBI, the DEA and most likely a multitude of acronymic governmental agencies I didn't even know existed. Fifteen minutes just you and me and my friends here."

"What do you want?" Carmine eyed her skeptically.

Chloe planted her hands firmly on the table top and leaned until she was towering over him. "Give me the container numbers."

"What container numbers?" Carmine adjusted the cuffs on his suit shirt.

"That's cute, that you're playing this little game with me. See the good thing about being a vigilante is, that the normal rules don't apply to you." Chloe grabbed for her gun and Carmine grabbed for his but Bart sped forward and swiped it off the table before he could reach it. She turned around, pulled the trigger, shooting Mike who was just coming to in the leg and turned back to Carmine "I'll ask again. Give me the container numbers."

**************

Love pulled himself up to his feet with much difficulty and then hopped his way over to Ray who was still out cold on the forest floor. Love pulled Ray's gun free from the holster and cocked it, making sure the safety was off before he turned to head up to the porch and deal with Chloe Queen once and for all.

"I really wouldn't do that if I were you." The feminine voice sounded familiar to Love but it was impossible. "Turn around slowly and put the gun down." Love obeyed, pivoting on the spot in slow motion but still when he saw her, he couldn't stop the surprise on his face from showing.

"Sophia?" He swallowed, suddenly his throat was very dry. "She shot you."

"Did she?" Sophia stepped closer. "Drop the gun."

"I saw her, she shot you." Love protested as the gun slipped through his fingers. "Two shots, straight to the heart."

Sophia bent down and picked up the discarded weapon, sliding it in her waistband. Then she smirked and unbuttoned the top three buttons on her blouse, pulling the fabric open to revel a dark blue vest. "Kevlar. Standard Issue. FBI." She brought her wrist up to her mouth. "Love is secure. Awaiting go ahead for extraction."

***************

Mason paced on the crest of the hill as Sophia called in her status report. Where just thirty minutes ago Oliver's Ferrari had been the only thing disturbing the surroundings there was now a full command headquarters. There were SWAT vans and tactical teams, a helicopter was standing by at the local airfield and about fifty assorted FBI and DEA agents were standing by just waiting for the go ahead from Mason to take the cabin. Behind the command center, behind the barriers that had to be erected once a crowd started to draw there were press vans, every station imaginable had sent out field reporters and he could hear news copters in the skies over head. Just as they'd planned.

"Do you copy?" Sophia called in again and Mason grabbed the walkie-talkie at his waist.

"Copy that. Waiting on confirmation from Watchtower." Mason said. He felt ridiculous every time he used the code name but he wasn't going to risk using her real name on an open channel. The press could be listening in.

"If she doesn't have the numbers yet, she's not going to get them." Sophia sent back.

Mason pinched the bridge of his nose. Logically he knew Sophia was right but something was stopping him from making the call. "Give her some time." Bart was at his side, appeared right out of nowhere and Mason had to bite his lip from jumping twenty feet in the air. "Trust her." Bart said and Mason nodded taking a deep breath.

"We hold." Mason said into the walkie-talkie then slipped it back on the holster at his waist. "Five more minutes." He said to Bart. "Then I'm coming in, with or without the numbers." Bart nodded and he was gone once more, invisible, off in the wind. Mason looked around once more at the three ring circus his day had become and squeezed his eyes shut tightly, wishing it all away. "I can't believe I let her talk me into this."

***************

Two hours ago…

"Chloe think about this." Mia stepped forward, blocking the door. "Outside this door is a room full of cops, followed by a parking lot full of cops. How far are you going to get."

"Love knows where he is. I'm going to get my husband." Chloe said calmly. "So either get out of my way or shoot me."

Before Mia could do either the door opened into the room. Mia spun around surprised as Chloe grabbed her arm, shoving the woman behind her with one hand and pulling Mason's weapon from her waistband with the other. She had the gun aimed and cocked before the door even closed.

Sophia stood still, hands in the air as she took in the scene in front of her. Victor, AC, Bart, Lois, and Dinah were frozen in place. Clark was pulling Mason up off the floor. The FBI agent's nose looked broken and it was spilling blood down his chin and onto his shirt. Sgt. Wise had his gun out and aimed at Chloe, who had what looked suspiciously like Mason's gun in her hands, aimed right at Sophia's head. "I…" Sophia sputtered, unsure exactly what to say, not knowing what had caused this situation and definitely not wanting to make anything worse.

"It's ok." Mason walked over to Chloe slowly. He reached out tentatively and slid his fingers around her wrist, tugging gently, pulling her arm and the weapon down. "She's on my team." Mason explained and Chloe turned to look at him. "She's my partner." He said sliding his fingers down from Chloe's wrist to cover her hand on his weapon. "Take your finger off the trigger." He said in a way that was somehow both a polite request and a not so polite order.

Chloe just nodded and opened her hand, releasing the gun. Mason bent down quickly and caught it before it hit the ground. He popped the bullet out of the chamber and turned the safety back on. "Good."

When the weapon was safely back in Mason's hands, Wise let out a sigh of relief as he was able to lower his own gun, sliding it back into his holster. "What the hell is going on here?" Sophia whispered urgently, clicking the door shut behind her and turning to Mason with an annoyed expression. "I leave you alone for twenty minutes and you blow both of our covers?"

Mason barked out a laugh and collapsed into the couch cushions, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. "God I need a nap."

****************

Chloe was pacified for the time being as Sophia told her story. "They needed someone on the inside." She explained. "We knew there was a leak, a traitor somewhere in the department. But we had no idea who. So they sent me in, as a transfer from San Francisco. They put a few things on my record, reprimands for excessive force, an unresolved accusation about suspected bribery. Things that would be red flags to straight partners and things that would be like an added incentive to a crooked one."

"Why didn't you pull him?" Chloe asked finally, the question that Mason was dreading. "You said before the wedding you had everything you needed to put Carmine away forever. You knew Oliver's cover was blown, why didn't you pull him, arrest Carmine then and there?"

"We had everything we needed to put Carmine away but we didn't have everything we needed." Mason explained.

"The container numbers?" Victor asked, remembering something that Mason had said earlier.

Mason nodded. "Three shipping containers are coming in next month, we don't know where, we don't know when and if we arrest him now, he'll never give them up."

"What's in them that's so important that you would risk my husband's life?" Chloe asked, pleading with him now. "Guns? Drugs? Black market marinara sauce?"

"People." Mason said. The whole room went quiet.

"Did you say people?" Bart asked slowly as he sat down. "Like _real_ people? Like living breathing human being type people?"

"Three containers full." Mason nodded.

"How many people is…"

"If you squish them in tight enough you could fit about 80-85 in one container but that many people is going to use up a lot of air so you'd only put in about sixty, leave enough room for the barest of essentials, some water, a little food, just enough to get you through about a month at sea."

"That's almost 200 people." Dinah whispered shocked. "He's shipping 200 hundred people?"

"Smuggling, actually." Sophia corrected her.

"Why?"

"Money." Lois shook her head in disgust. "Human trafficking, a modern day slave trade, it's a pretty lucrative business." Everyone turned to her surprised. "I did a story on it a few years ago for the planet."

"The things is, all the stuff we've got him on could send Carmine Luciano away for the rest of his life. But without those container numbers we're screwed. He could use the information to cut a deal with the DA, get his sentence reduced five to ten out in four with good behavior. Or he could sit on it out of spite." Mason said.

"Let them rot, abandoned in some shipyard somewhere, suffocate, die of heat exhaustion or starvation. They man nothing to him except a business venture that didn't pan out. It would probably be years before we ever found them." Sophia explained.

"I wanted to pull him." Mason turned to Chloe. "I tried to pull him. I told him that we could find another way, we could get the numbers another way but he didn't want to risk it. Didn't want two hundred people to die because he couldn't finish what he started. So yeah you want to blame someone, blame me. I did this. I could have stopped it, I could have pulled him out and you'd probably be on a beach in Morocco right now. Do I regret it? Not if we get those container numbers I don't. I'm sorry if that sounds heartless to you. But I want you to know, that I've been doing everything in my power to make sure that your husband stays alive."

"You leaked the pictures." Chloe said suddenly, understanding and Mason nodded.

"You did that?" Mia glared at him. "You know better." She shook her head. "What purpose did turning this thing into a three ring media circus possibly serve?"

"It kept Oliver alive." Chloe piped up, surprised that she was defending him. "We needed them to know that we knew Oliver was missing, that someone was going to be looking for him, so he leaked the story, leaked the pictures and the press did the rest." Chloe laughed. "How long did it take after the press conference for Jack to call us, offering a deal? Five minutes? Less?"

"You just used us like that?" Mia asked disgusted.

"They're the FBI." Victor smiled. "They use everybody."

"That's not fair." Sophia glared at him. "We've been busting our asses on this case for over a year now. We've been working on Luciano for almost five. We do what we have to do."

"You've been with Love for what? A little over six month's right?" Chloe asked Sophia.

"Seven months." Sophia nodded.

"And yet, I've only known the man for eighteen hours, I've never even talked to him and yet it took me maybe ten minutes to figure out he was dirty." Chloe crossed her arms over her chest.

"Those were extenuating circumstances." Sophia protested stepping closer.

"Yeah I did this little thing called "investigating". You should try it sometime." Chloe was practically in her face now. If they weren't going to let her take her anger out on Love then Sophia was going to have to be the next best thing.

"This coming from the woman who had no clue that her husband has been living not one but two double lives for the past year?" Sophia smirked.

Before Chloe could do anything she'd regret, Dinah and Lois smoothly slipped between the two women, separating them. "That was way out of line." Lois said as she pushed Sophia away.

Chloe shook of Dinah's hand on her arm. "No, actually." She said taking a deep breath. "She's right."

Everyone turned to Chloe confused. "What?" Victor asked her.

"She's right." Chloe looked at them. "Oliver was secretly pretending to be involved with the mob while actually being in league with the FBI for an entire freaking year and I had no clue."

"None of us did." AC reminded her.

"Yeah but you guys weren't living with him, dating him, sleeping with him." Chloe said.

"We were definitely not doing those things." Bart reassured her.

"The thing is I knew something was going on. I mean I'm not an idiot am I?" Chloe was pacing now.

Victor slapped his hand over Dinah's mouth. "That was a rhetorical question." He said to her.

"Seriously though. One day he just up and loses his company and then a year later, bam it's back and he gives me no reason, no explanation and do I even ask? No because I'm just so happy that he's finally happy again that I'm too scared to do anything or say anything that might possibly burst the bubble." Chloe was on a roll now. "That's not me, that's not who I am. I ask questions, I find answers. For a year after he lost his company I walked on eggshells around him and I'm realizing now, I never stopped." She collapsed into her chair. "What the hell happened to us?" She asked.

Everyone sort of looked around the room until their eyes settled on Lois. "What?" She mouthed to Clark, shrugging her shoulders.

"I don't think that one was a rhetorical question." Victor whispered.

Lois walked over and squatted down next to Chloe, grabbing her hand. "Nothing happened honey or rather life happened." Chloe turned to her intently. "I get it, what you're feeling. You guys are Chloe and Oliver, even before you were Chloe and Oliver you were Chloe and Oliver you know." Chloe nodded. "You had this bond, this strange connection that nobody could touch."

"Trust me, I tried." Dinah whispered.

"You guys knew each other's deepest darkest secrets before you even kissed for the first time." Lois said. "So this is new, this not knowing, all the secrets."

"We never had secrets." Chloe said. "Not until…why didn't he think he could tell me?"

"He was scared." Lois said. "And ashamed. He's supposed to be the guy, he's supposed to take care of you and take care of business and when he couldn't do that, it rattled him. I think he probably wanted to do this, to prove that he was still that guy. The guy you could count on, the guy who could take care of you."

"He never had to prove anything to me." Chloe shook her head. "I don't know where he got this idea that I needed any of that."

"Maybe he had to prove it to himself." Bart spoke up. "Maybe he had to do this so that he felt worthy enough, so that he felt he deserved you. Do you have any idea how amazing you are?" Lois stood up and backed away as Bart got closer. "You are the most incredible person that I've ever known. You are generous to a fault, I've literally seen you give someone the shirt off your back and you're so sweet that you take extra care to make sure you let short annoying guys who are totally infatuated with you down easy."

"Bart." Chloe whipped her eyes, she wasn't exactly sure when she'd started crying.

"You love with your whole heart, you throw yourself into every relationship you have with everything you've got. You care so much about everyone else sometimes I wonder if there's anything left over for yourself. I'm supposed to protect you. That's my job. It always has been and it always will be. But I can't protect you from that. The thing is I don't have to. That's where Oliver comes in. It's my job to protect you, but his job to love you. To give to you what you give to everyone else." Bart smiled sadly at her.

"That's a good speech." Chloe sniffed. "You been practicing that?"

"It was my best man speech." Bart said. "I had it all ready. Just in case you know."

"You would have made a good best man."

"I would have made a great best man." Bart protested. "Look. When he lost everything, he really didn't care. I mean he cared at first cause you know he lost _everything_ and then all he cared about was you. He couldn't believe that you didn't drop him the second everything went down, that you stayed by him even when he was being a pretty reprehensible ass. I know because he spent an entire evening at my apartment when we were supposed to be watching the Sharks game talking about how awesome you were and how lucky he was to have you. Then he realized that if he could lose everything else just like that, then maybe he could lose you too. He didn't fight for his company, he didn't fight for the money or the house or the car but there was no way he was going to lose you not without a fight, so he did what he thought he had to do."

"Right." Chloe wiped her eyes and stood up. "Then I'm going to do what I have to do."

"So then you're doing this?" Dinah asked. "You're going in?"

"Chloe there's no way I'm letting you go in there." Mason shook his head. "It's too dangerous. He already has Oliver and you want me to just hand you over as well? I can't authorize that."

"Good thing it's not up to you." Chloe said. "And _I'm_ not going in, _we're_ going in."

"Finally." Victor jumped up and turned to AC. "We're going to need a few things from the Watchtower."

"I've already got a list started." AC reached behind him and grabbed a pad. Dinah and Chloe started going over something on the computer.

"Wait hold on." Mason stood up and no one paid attention. "Everyone just stop for one second. There is no way that I'm letting an unarmed, unauthorized civilian walk right into the lion's den. What makes you think I'm going to let the seven of you?"

"Oh, I don't do field work." Lois shook her head and stepped back.

"Fine, the six of you?" Mason asked Chloe.

"Right. Well we're not exactly unarmed." Chloe told him. "And we're not exactly civilians."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Sophia snorted at her.

Chloe looked around at her team, having a silent conversation with each of them. "You guys told us your secret, so I guess it's time we told you ours." Chloe nodded at Bart.

"You live in San Francisco right?" Bart put his hands on his hips and walked up to Mason.

"Yeah."

"You've got kids?" Bart asked. "Little ones?"

"A five year old and an eight year old." Mason said slowly.

"Cute." Bart smirked. "Are they the kind of kids who draw really bad pictures but they're your kids so you put on the fridge anyway?"

"Aren't all kids like that?" Mason smiled.

"Right, I'll be right back." Bart winked and then he was gone.

"What was he…" Before Mason could finish his sentence Bart was standing in front of him, a cartoon of orange juice in one hand and a sheet of paper in the other.

"You've got yourself a budding DaVinci don't you?" Bart smiled passing the paper over as he took a large gulp of juice.

Mason looked down and recognized the familiar giant yellow and green flowers that his daughter Lucy had drawn for him a few months ago. Her sloppy signature was scrawled across the orange sky. There was a brown circle on the back from where he'd accidently set his coffee mug next to a sloppy note he'd written to himself to pick up his wife's dry cleaning. "How did you get this?" Mason asked.

"It was on your fridge." Bart shrugged. "Stuck up there with a souvenir magnet from Minnesota I believe. It was cute, a little moose." Bart smiled at Mason. "Oh you might want to call your wife and tell her that she's out of OJ." He held up the carton in his hands and shook it, sure enough it was empty. "I'm really sorry but it's a long trip and I got a bit thirsty."

"How did he get from here to San Francisco and back again in less than a minute?" Mason asked, slightly freaked at this point.

"You're the one they call Impulse." Mia stepped forward a strange expression on her face.

"At your service darling." Bart affected a very large bow and winked.

"So then you would be Cyborg." Mia turned to Victor. "Canary." She said to Dinah. "Aquaman." AC smiled at her. "And that makes you…"

"Watchtower." Chloe nodded encouragingly. "Nice to meet you." She held out her hand and Mia smiled before shaking it.

"Wait a minute. Impulse, Cyborg, Canary, Aquaman, Watchtower…that's the JLA." Sophia looked at the assembled group.

"That would be us." Chloe said.

"You're seriously standing here telling me that you're part of a group of superheroes. Vigilante superheroes."

"We don't really like to think of ourselves as vigilantes." Victor said, almost sounding slightly hurt by the word.

"Doesn't matter. That's what the State of California likes to think of you as." Sophia pointed out.

"Right, we've had a bit of bad press lately. We're trying to rectify that." Chloe said.

"Give me one good reason that I shouldn't arrest you, right now." Sophia glared at her. Chloe really had nothing to say to that. Each member of the JLA had at least three outstanding warrants for their arrests on matters ranging from the serious, obstruction of justice (which Oliver found ridiculously ironic), to the desperate, illegal use of an unregistered lethal weapon.

"The way I see it, right now, what you need most is group of vigilantes." Mia said and everyone turned to her. "Your hands are tied by the law, theirs aren't."

"So we should just let them do whatever they want to do, screw the laws?" Sophia snorted.

"No, you should take advantage of the situation, by using all available resources at your disposal to put away a man who makes John Gotti look like Mother Teresa." Mia glared at her. "Love knows where Oliver is, Love is your way in and you can't touch him. You have no proof you have nothing, and he'll give you nothing. But she, she can make him talk." Mia nodded at Chloe.

"How?" Mason asked slowly.

"I need him more scared of me, than he is of Carmine." Chloe said.

"Assuming I'm going along with this plan, how do you propose we do that?" Mason asked.

"I'm gonna need to borrow your gun again." Chloe smirked and then turned to Sophia. "Do you have a flak jacket on you by any chance?"

"I'm so getting fired for this." Mason sighed.

****************

Mason was pacing again. It had been three minutes and he'd gotten no word from Chloe, no word from Bart, no word from anybody. He was definitely getting fired for this. "Sir."

"Two minutes." Mason called over his shoulder. The press was in place. He felt twitchy, like he was on display for the whole world to see, like his every move was being catalogued.

"_That's the point." _Chloe had explained to him after she'd asked him to leak one more story, one more lead. _"They need to be there, they need to get the whole thing on tape. They need stock footage of you being the good guys going in there arresting the bad guys. They need that shot of me holding my husband's hand as EMT's load him into the back of an ambulance, they need that image, the newlyweds beaten and broken but safe . They need victims and they need villains and they need a hero, and we're going to give it to them." _

Mason sighed, hoping that Chloe had everything as under control as she claimed she did because if anything happened, if anything went wrong and this went down some other way, the image the press was going to get was that of bumbling FBI agents as a coroner zipped up two newlyweds into body bags. He checked his watch. One minute and then he was going in.

**************

"People are always underestimating you aren't they?" Carmine asked Chloe.

"They generally only make that mistake once." Chloe raised an eyebrow and he laughed.

"I would imagine." Carmine sipped his drink. "Why should I tell you this? This information is very valuable to me. The difference between life in prison and a short unpleasant vacation."

"This is true." Chloe nodded. "But see. With a good lawyer, life in prison's not so bad. I bet you'd go to one of those white collar places. They say their sort of like Club Med only with bars on the windows. But my prison, you don't want to go to my prison."

"What prison is this?" Carmine asked intrigued.

"Let's take a little trip." Chloe said and then nodded at Clark.

Before Carmine could protest he felt something grab at his arm, felt himself being pulled faster than he'd ever moved in his life and then he was cold. He looked around and found himself no longer in the comfortable cozy cabin in the woods, but in some sort of cave made of ice. "Where are we?" He asked Chloe frantically.

"I want you to imagine the absolute worst place on the face of the planet. The most desolate, uninhabitable, wasteland. A place where the sun is so bright it burns your eyes, where the wind is sharp that it bites your skin and its howl pierces your eardrums. Then I want you to take this place and I want you to imagine that as soon as you enter it, your body stops aging. You become frozen in time. You don't need to eat, you don't need to drink, you just need to survive. Which isn't as easy as it would seem because in this place there are creatures. Creatures you couldn't even conjure up in your wildest nightmares. Creatures who have no conscience who have no sense of anything, who have been frozen in that place for so long that they've gone made from it."

"Surely a place like that doesn't exist on this earth."

"No, it doesn't." Chloe shook her head and then turned to Clark who grabbed a large black crystal and shoved it into the floor. A whirlwind seemed to sweep through the cave and as Carmine watched, right in front of his very eyes the air before him started to rip and tear and then there was a hole and through that hole he could see a place. "This is my prison." Chloe screamed to him over the sound of the wind. Sand was being blown out into their world and it stung as it slapped him in the face.

Suddenly the very air itself seemed to ripple and the most inhuman scream pierced the air around them, cutting Carmine straight down into his bones. He caught a glimpse of something rush past him and for no discernable reason, his blood ran cold.

Clark stepped forward and held out his hand, in it a small crystal. A light burst out of the crystal illuminating something that had once been invisible, but now was a writhing twisted mass of something that Carmine didn't even want to think about. The crystal stopped glowing and the thing stopped screaming and Chloe nodded at Clark once more. He pulled the black crystal from the earth and the hole closed in on itself. "You don't want to go to my prison." Chloe reiterated and Carmine shook his head agreeing with her.

*****************

"Ok." Mason turned around and nodded at his men. "We're going in."

They were mobilized in seconds. SWAT leading the way down the hill, up to the house. Flash grenades were thrown in windows and every possible entrance or exit was covered and whole thing took less than a minute. The press got what they came for. They got a shot of Carmine Luciano being led out of the house in handcuffs, his face pale and drawn showing genuine fear. They got two more mob guys and one dirty cop being shoved into the backs of police cars. They got a shot of Chloe holding Oliver's hands as the paramedics loaded him into an ambulance. And they got the shot of their hero. FBI Special Agent Conner Mason, draping a blanket over the shoulders of Chloe Queen as she stared up at him, tearful, thankful, before giving him a hug.

****************

"Putting it on a little thick don't you think?" Mason whispered into Chloe's ear as she hugged him tight.

"They're eating it up." Chloe smiled at him.

"I still don't see how I'm the hero in this situation." Mason pulled away.

"You might not see it now. But you will in a couple of days when the front page of ever paper in the world has a shot of you, opening up a shipping container with 60 or so half starved men, women and children." Chloe said.

"What do you mean?" Mason asked. Chloe grabbed his hands gripping them tightly. When she pulled away she left a small scrap of folded paper in his palm. "The container numbers?" He asked confused. "But how did you.."

"I just had to make Carmine more scared of me than he was of you." Chloe shrugged.

"And how did you do that?" Mason asked her.

"I'm a very terrifying woman." Chloe smiled brightly at him and he snorted at her skeptically.

"Ms. Queen?" One of the paramedics walked over to them. "We'll be taking your husband to the hospital now."

"Go." Mason smiled at her. "I'll see you there."

Chloe nodded and climbed in the back of the ambulance, grabbing Oliver's hand as the paramedic shut the door. "Look, I know what I did was so beyond wrong and there's nothing I can do or say that could possibly make up for it but…" Oliver's apology was cut off when Chloe's lips covered his. He sighed into the kiss and she pulled away to lean her forehead against his, hot tears falling down her cheeks.

"Ryan Evans." Chloe whispered.

"What?" Oliver shook his head confused.

"Ryan Evans." Chloe pulled away just far enough to look down on him. "That's who I caught Ethan Patterson sleeping with."

"You caught…with Ryan Evans?" Oliver's face broke out into a huge grin. "Wait a minute. Ryan Evans as in Congressman Evans, the woman who single handedly fought against the bill to legalize gay marriage in California, as in her son?"

"The one and only." Chloe nodded.

"Well that's just…the best thing I think I've heard all day." Oliver laughed and then coughed and then winced.

"Ok then." Chloe took a deep breath. "So now we have no more secrets right?"

"I swear." Oliver nodded.

"Good." Chloe smiled. "Let's keep it that way."

**************

"I still can't believe she got to shoot me and I didn't get to shoot anyone." Sophia walked up to Mason, her hand on her abdomen and they watched as the ambulance pulled away. "I think she broke a few of my ribs."

"Hey Marino." Mason threw and arm over her shoulder and looked down at the slip of paper in his hands. "You ever want to be a hero?" He smiled down at her.

* * *

Author's Note: Ok, I know that this took a really, really, painfully long time to update but I had nothing. I knew where I wanted to go, I just couldn't seem to get there. I sat here for the past three weeks staring at a blank word document. The only piece of this chapter that I managed to write in that time was Chloe's line (my favorite line of the chapter actually), "Hush now dear, the grownups are talking". The fact of the matter is, you very likely wouldn't have even gotten a chapter if it had not been for the wonderful, amazingly talented tehzo who has been so very kind enough to help me out with a little project that I'm working on to go with the end of this story. When I got the finished pictures, they were so ridiculously awesome that I started writing and didn't stop for two days and then I had twenty pages. So if you want to give credit where credit is due, it's all down to tehzo.

Plus bonus points to everyone who finds all the Beatle's refrences.

I hope you enjoyed.


	9. Chapter 9

Two Years Later

Finn stared at the familiar doorway that led to the Stout Goat. His feet, for all intents and purposes were glued to the pavement. His arms felt as if suddenly they were made of solid lead. His brain was screaming at his body to get over it, to go inside but his body was determined to stubbornly not listen. "Hey." Finn turned his head and saw Bart standing next to him, he'd come out of nowhere, just like he always did. Finn nodded a hello at him and then turned his attention back at the door.

Bart followed suit and they stared at the door together in silence for a minute, which Finn knew was a lot to ask of Bart. "You going in?"

"That's the plan." Finn sighed.

Bart nodded and turned his attention back to the door. "You planning on going in any time soon?" Bart asked, shifting his weight from foot to foot now, restless and antsy.

"Not sure." Finn smiled.

"You just have to pull." Victor walked up on the other side Finn.

"I understand the mechanics of how a door works, but thanks." Finn snorted at Victor without looking at him.

"Sure." Victor put his hands in his pockets and looked at the door. "You know it's your party right?"

"I know." Finn said slightly annoyed. As if to belabor the point his phone beeped with a text. He pulled it from his pocket and checked the screen.

"Chloe?" Bart smirked at him.

Finn nodded as he read. _I organized this whole thing just for you; don't even think about not showing up._

AC walked up behind them and stared at the door with them for a minute. He frowned, scratched his nose and finally poked Bart in the back. "What are we looking at?" He whispered when Bart turned around.

"Finn can't go inside." Bart smirked.

"It's not that I can't." Finn tried to protest. "What if she doesn't like it?" He asked no one in particular and Bart instantly laughed.

"Oh God, you're scared of Chloe." Bart said

"I'm not scared of Chloe." He shook his head.

"I'm scared of Chloe." Victor said.

"How can anyone be scared of Chloe?" Bart rolled his eyes.

"How can you not be scared of Chloe?" Victor turned to him.

"What does Bart have to be scared of, he's her favorite." AC reminded Victor.

"This is true." Bart nodded with a huge grin on his face.

"I'm not scared of Chloe." Finn said louder this time. They all turned to look at him. "I'm more scared of what Chloe could do to me if she hated it."

"Oh." They all three said in unison then were quiet.

"Yeah you should be scared of that." Bart patted him on the back.

"Why are we all standing on the sidewalk like idiots?" Dinah asked walking up behind them.

"Finn's not ready to go in just yet." Bart glared at the woman, hoping to portray some sort of solidarity with the reporter.

"Why?" Dinah asked confused.

"He's scared Chloe hated the article." Victor explained.

"And as a result will have him transferred to Bora Bora." AC added.

"Where he'll have to live in a hut and never be able to come back because she's erased all record of him so for all intents and purposes he doesn't exist anymore." Bart said.

"Can she do that?" Finn turned to Bart, his eyes wide.

"Would she do that?" Dinah took pity on him. "Probably not." Finn relaxed slightly. "Can she do that?" Dinah smiled and offered a little shrug.

"You see." Finn said helplessly. "She is a terrifying woman."

"Well I don't know about you guys but I'm not missing the party because Finn's being a wussy little girl." Dinah pushed past the guys and opened the door.

"I'm not being a-"Before he could finish the sentence Dinah grabbed the lapels of his jacket and yanked him into the bar. "Girl." Finn glared at her and pulled away, straightening out the wrinkles she'd made.

"Look, she got the advance copy at eight this morning; she read it at 8:05. If she hated it, trust me you'd know by now." Dinah offered him an encouraging smile and then walked off leaving him alone and afraid, but at least he was inside.

"There he is, man of the hour." Chloe's voice carried through the bar, over the music, over the murmur of conversation. Suddenly the people crowded around in front of him parted like the Red Sea and there she was and she appeared to be smiling. She walked up to Finn and smiled even bigger, pulling him into a hug.

All of Finn's tension seemed to ease out of him with one large breath. She pulled back and kissed his cheek. "So you didn't hate it?" He asked.

"Are you kidding me?" She slipped her arm in his and pulled him toward the front of the room. "It was amazing, you are amazing." Chloe stopped him in front of the table and pulled one of the magazines off the delicately arranged display and waved it in front of him. "Have you seen this?"

He took the magazine from her and laughed. Of course he'd seen it. It was the culmination of the past eight months of his life. It was the most important thing he'd ever done in his career and if he did say so himself, it was the best thing he'd ever written. "I actually have seen it."

Chloe blushed. "Right. I suppose you would have."

Though he'd looked at it a hundred times since it had been sent to his editor, a hundred times since he'd finalized the layout with the art department, and a hundred times since the final mock up showed up on his desk last week, he couldn't stop himself from opening the magazine and looking down at the article once more. "Want to guess what her favorite part was?" A beer appeared in front of his face and he closed the magazine to grab it, looking up at Oliver.

"I'm not sure, could it be that I sandwiched her in between Sean Connery and Daniel Craig?" Finn sipped the beer, more relaxed now that he knew he wasn't going to have to flee the country and change his name.

"You did that on purpose?" Chloe smiled even brighter at him.

"The ads were going in the magazine anyway; I might have suggested where they could be placed." Finn shrugged. "But it's good to know that my amazing prose is so easily replaced by a few Bond's."

"Are you kidding me?" Oliver sipped his beer. "I'd be replaced for a Bond."

"Not just any Bond." Chloe assured him. She slipped her arms around his waist and stood on her tip toes so she could place a very big kiss on his lips. "It's not like I'd leave you for Roger Moore or Timothy Dalton."

"Well that's comforting at least." Oliver smiled down at her. "I suppose I'm safe unless Daniel Craig walks through the door."

"So then I should call him and tell him it would be better that he not come tonight." Finn smiled pretending to pull out his phone. "He was so excited to meet you when I invited him to the party." Chloe stared at Finn for a second in shock before her eyes narrowed and she glared.

"That's not funny." She declared in a huff.

"She falls for it every time." Oliver shook his head.

"She still thinks that just because we're both British that we hang out on the weekends and play football." Finn sipped his drink. "It's terrible really. I don't assume you must personally know Superman just because you are from Metropolis." He shook his head and laughed as Oliver and Chloe shared a small smile.

"Well look we're not going to hog you, it's your story, your party after all." Chloe reminded him.

"It's actually your story." Finn pointed out.

"But there is someone I want you to meet." Chloe ignored him as if he hadn't staid anything and waved someone over. "Finn, this is Mia." Chloe practically shoved her into Finn. "Mia, this is Finn. He wrote the article."

Mia smiled and backed up a step, putting a bit of space between the two of them. "I read it. It was really, really very good."

"Thanks." Finn instantly got annoyed at himself as he felt his face start to heat up with a blush. He turned away so that Mia wouldn't notice and saw Chloe smiling brightly at the two of them and then he got it. This was a set up. "Wait a minute, Mia Stevens? Lieutenant Stevens?"

"It's Captain Stevens now actually." Mia smiled. "I got a promotion."

"Congratulations." Finn nodded. "You're a hard woman to get a hold of." Finn had done everything in his power to get an interview with the then Lieutenant now Captain Stevens in the process of writing his article. It was easier to get an interview with Prime Minister of Montenegro than to get into a room with Mia Stevens. He should know, he'd interviewed the Prime Minister just last month, thanks to a helpful word from Chloe.

"There was no reason to interview me." Mia shrugged him off.

"You and I both know that's not true." Finn said. He suddenly had the urge to wag his finger at her. Though her role in the incident at Clearwater Ridge was not known to the public but from Chloe's side of the story Finn saw Mia's roll as nothing less than heroic.

"Finn, Mia is going to take over Lois spot on our Hocquetball team this year." Chloe told him then turned to Mia.

"That's great." Finn said. "Have you ever played before?"

"No." Mia shook her head not without a bit of trepidation. "Chloe tried to explain it to me but to be honest I'm not really sure what I got myself into when I agreed to take Lois' spot."

"Finn is the best player on our team." Chloe said. "The best player in the whole league."

"Well seeing as how the league only consists of two teams at the moment, that's not really saying much."

"Of course it is." Chloe slapped his arm. "Don't be so modest. You guys should get together. You could teach Mia the fundamentals."

"I'd really appreciate the help." Mia smiled up at him.

"Sure thing." Finn said then something else seemed to register with him. "Wait, taking over Lois' spot?" Finn shook his head. "What's wrong with Lois?"

"Nothing is wrong with Lois thank you." Lois snapped from behind him. "Lois is more than capable of playing a stupid game of Hocquetball. Lois is perfectly fine."

"Really?" Finn turned to her. "Lois doesn't seem fine because Lois has developed a sudden need to refer to herself in the third person."

"Only because certain people who shall remain nameless, Chloe and Clark, have decided to start talking as if I'm not even in the room and making all my decisions for me." Lois glared at Chloe.

"If you had shown us you were capable of making your own decisions then we wouldn't feel the need to make them for you."

"I'm a grown woman; I actually am capable of making my own decisions." Lois said.

"Yes and was it you who made the decision to sneak into KryTech's server farm, tried to hack their system, sloppily I might add, which lead to you being caught, chased out of the building by three armed guards for five blocks and almost got yourself run over twice." Chloe put her hands on her hips.

Lois didn't confirm or deny that which from Lois was just as good as a confession. "There's something fishy going on with them, I just know it." She defended her actions. "And I was right wasn't I? What kind of Frozen Food Company needs armed guards in their server farm?"

"Not the point." Chloe sighed.

"Ok, but that sounds like a normal Tuesday for Lois." Finn said trying to point out the obvious.

Chloe turned from Lois to Finn. "She's pregnant."

"Congratulations." Finn and Mia both smiled brightly and hugged Lois.

"Thanks." She beamed.

"Oh but oh." Finn shook his head as realization dawned on his face. "You can't do stuff like that anymore Lois, you're pregnant." He said it in a way that suggested he didn't think she fully understood that.

"God, I know ok, but the last time I checked, pregnancy did not automatically turn one into an invalid." Lois put her hands on her hips.

"You're right, it doesn't." Chloe said. "But it does make one unqualified to do things like breaking and entering, engaging in high speed chases, and playing a sport which encourages people to body check each other on a regular basis."

"She makes a good point." Finn said uneasily.

"I could tone it down." Lois snorted.

"You are incapable of toning it down." Chloe laughed at her. "You are the reason we instituted the personal foul remember, just for you. It didn't exist until you started playing."

"You got thrown into the penalty box fifteen times the last game." Finn added. "Three times because you fouled me and I was on your team."

"So sometimes I get a little competitive." Lois said.

"You cracked two of my ribs." Finn protested.

"Fine, whatever." Lois sighed as Chloe started to lead her away. "We've got a winning streak going on at the moment so you better not mess it up." Mia nodded numbly. "Can I referee at least?" Lois whined.

"You are so the opposite of unbiased." Chloe shook her head.

"Ok, now I'm really nervous. This sport is a little more bloodthirsty than I thought." Mia admitted to Finn with a chuckle.

"That's just Lois." Finn said. "She was our unofficial enforcer, a role that you shouldn't feel the need to fill if that makes you…uncomfortable."

"No, I don't mind being rough if the occasion calls for it." Mia smiled brightly at him.

Finn swallowed hard. "Good, that's uh, good to know." He took a large chug of his beer. He turned around and caught a quick glimpse of Chloe smiling at him manically from across the room and giving him the thumbs up and it took all his self control not to spit his beer out in surprise.

"She's not very subtle is she?" Mia asked and Finn turned to see that she was watching. He saw Chloe quickly look away, pretending, horribly, to listen to whatever Lois was talking about. "It's a married person thing. They're ridiculously happy and in love and they have this uncontrollable urge to start pairing up everyone around them."

"Is that your professional assessment?" Finn asked.

"Uh no, that's from personal experience." Mia shook her head. "I've got four sisters all of whom got married within six months of each other so I went through almost a two year period where I had a different blind date practically every night."

"Well then allow me to apologize on her behalf." Finn offered.

"Don't." Mia reached out a laid a slight hand on Finn's arm and smiled.

*************

"What's she doing now?" Chloe asked.

"I don't know can't you just turn around and look?" Lois rolled her eyes.

"No." Chloe growled in frustration.

"She's touching his arm." Dinah walked up in a board tone. "Champagne for you." Dinah passed Chloe a glass. "Sparkling Cider for you." Dinah handed the other glass to Lois. "When I walked by earlier, there was a lot of stuttering and blushing, it was all very Victorian."

"Oh, that's good, stuttering is good." Chloe smiled.

"Kissing is better." Dinah pointed out.

"You can't expect her to just jump him in the middle of the party." Chloe rolled her eyes.

"I would." Dinah smirked.

"And that is why I never tried to set you up with Finn." Chloe nudged her shoulder.

"Well, maybe I'd drag him to the bathroom before jumping him." Dinah finished the last of her champagne. "I'm gonna go get a refill and tell Finn to stop being a girl."

"Dinah, don't you dare." Chloe excused herself from Lois to chase after Dinah.

************

The rest of the party was pretty much par for the course as far as Oliver and Chloe's parties went, which meant, at one point Chloe and Oliver got into an argument that could only be settled with a game of pool. They retired to the special table in the back, one that Oliver had bought for the Stout Goat for this express purpose and their own personal pool cues had been pulled from behind the bar as Jake racked the balls for them.

"What are they arguing about now?" Finn asked Lois amused but she just shrugged.

"Something to do with Oliver's car." She answered sipping her sparkling cider.

Finn settled into a bar stool as the perfunctory smack talk began and Chloe set up her shot to break, sinking a stripped ball right away. The game stayed relatively close and Finn's eyes narrowed when it got down to only the eight ball and Chloe banked her shot wide off the side of the table, practically setting up Oliver perfectly to slam it into the corner pocket. Oliver smiled in triumph and Chloe graciously accepted her defeat as Finn jumped off the barstool and made his way over to her, a smirk on his face. "You totally blew that last shot on purpose." He nudged her with his hip.

The look Chloe gave him was one of severe innocence mixed with a bit of incredulousness and Finn could practically hear the unsaid "Who me?" as she shrugged.

"I've seen you make harder shots than that with your eyes closed." Finn pointed out to her.

"His arm's still a little off." Chloe said. "It wouldn't have been a fair match anyway." She shrugged as she took apart her pool cue and put it back its case. Finn had noticed Oliver still favoring his left arm, even after two years, the trauma he'd suffered on top of the multiple compound fractures assured that his arm would likely never heal

perfectly.

"What was it about?" Finn asked and Chloe nodded her head over his shoulder in response. Finn turned around and saw Oliver walking over to Jake with a grin that he couldn't seem to wipe off his face.

"What?" Jake asked when he noticed that Oliver was staring at him, somewhat manically. "Seriously dude, you're freaking me out."

"I never thanked you." Oliver finally said after a second.

"Thanked me for what?" Jake was really confused now.

"How you helped me out." Oliver said. "Even when you thought I was dirty. How you took it upon yourself to beat the crap out of me for the way you thought I was treating Chloe." Jake blushed as Chloe looked over at him with a soft smile on her face. "I know at the time you blamed yourself because you thought you were the one who'd set me up when really I was just using you. I promised you two years ago that I would make this all up to you so…" Oliver tossed something in the air and Jake reached out instinctively to catch it.

He stared at the object for what felt like hours but in reality was only a few seconds before blinking, his mouth opening and closing rapidly in a poor attempt to either say something intelligent or suck in some much needed oxygen. "Are you kidding me?" Bart was the one who finally broke the silence, staring down at the key chain that was in Jake's hand in disbelief. "You're giving him your car?" Bart asked and Jake's head shot up like a dart.

"You're giving me your car?" He echoed Bart, incredulity and all.

"Yeah." Oliver nodded. "So, you know, thanks." He shrugged sheepishly.

"You're giving me a million dollar car as a thank you present?" Jake asked again still not fully comprehending.

"A million five." Practically everyone else in the bar corrected him.

"Have you never heard of Hallmark?" He smiled slightly.

"We looked for a card but you know." Chloe shrugged as if she didn't really need to point out that they hadn't gotten around to making a card that expressed sentiments for someone to say, "Sorry I manipulated you into setting me up with a mob boss so that I could work undercover for the FBI to send the bastard away for several lifetimes and made you worry that I was getting in too deep and that I was putting my life and the life of my wife in danger, Love Always!".

"Rich people are weird." Jake shook his head but his fingers curled around the keys none the less.

"It's no big deal." Oliver said, his cheeks tinged pink as he rubbed the back of his neck nervously like he always did when he got embarrassed. "Chloe got me a Veyron for our anniversary and it seemed sort of ridiculously extravagant to keep the McLaren too, surely one only needs one million dollar luxury vehicle right?"

"Wait a minute." Finn turned to Chloe gaping with disbelief. "You got him a Bugatti Veyron for your anniversary?" Chloe nodded, unsure where he was going with this. "He got you a book." Finn pointed out.

Chloe sighed in understanding now. "It wasn't just a book."

"I was there when you opened the box." Finn said. "It was a book, and not a very good one at that." He'd remembered that vividly because it seemed amazing to him that the richest man he'd ever met would give his wife a battered old book for their anniversary. He'd caught sight of the name, _Securing the Watchtower, _gone home and researched it, hoping that maybe it was a classic or a rare book but it was neither and in the end it left him even more confused. At the time Chloe had gushed and smiled and hugged him and cradled the book as if it were the greatest thing since sliced bread so maybe it just had a special meaning to her.

"It was good enough." Chloe shrugged with that unusual smile on her face that let Finn know she knew something he didn't. He hated that smile, he'd seen that smile far too many times while researching the article for his own personal comfort level but he didn't comment further. If it didn't matter to Chloe that she threw down over a million dollars for Oliver's present and he responded with a freaking book, it wasn't going to matter to him. Rich people were weird.

The fact that someone had just given him a car worth more than what he would likely make in a lifetime seemed to fly out of the window as Jake registered what Oliver had just said. "Wait a minute; Chloe got you a Veyron for your anniversary?" Jake asked, his face lighting up like a kid who'd just discovered it was fun to play in the mud. "Are you serious?"

"Oh you should see it, it's so beautiful." Oliver seemed to melt away into another mode of consciousness as he talked about his new car. "It's the Pur Sang."

"There are only like ten of those, in the entire world." Finn gaped at him as he joined the conversation.

"Five." Oliver said as he began listing the features and Chloe rolled her eyes, determined not to pay attention as the car talk got underway and instead turned to Lois who was watching the whole thing with detached amusement.

"I still can't believe you didn't let me drive it once before giving it away." She shook her head.

"The way you drive?" Chloe scoffed. "We're not even letting you behind the wheel of a Vespa until my niece or nephew is safely born, much less a street legal race car."

"You got to drive it." Lois pouted. "It's not fair."

"Will you shut up about it if I promise to buy you one as a baby shower present?" Chloe joked.

"Yes please, but I'll take mine in red if you don't mind." Lois beamed at her cousin.

"If your gonna keep giving away cars, can I put in my order now?" Dinah walked up. "Nothing to extravagant, just a Vette, silver."

"Gotta go with a classic myself." Bart shook his head and joined the conversation. "Aston Martin DB5."

"I'm not buying any of you a car." Chloe scoffed at them and then looked at Bart and winked.

"Told you." AC shook his head in mock disgust. "Totally her favorite."

"So are you going to ask him tonight?" Victor looked over where Oliver was now showing Finn and Jake and anyone else who was interested pictures of his new car from his phone, like a proud papa.

"I don't know." Chloe sighed dramatically. "He won't say no, he can't say no to something like this."

"So then what's the problem?" Dinah asked confused.

"He won't say no." Chloe told her. Dinah looked even more confused if that were remotely possible and Chloe explained. "You've read the article, it's good, it's really good and the exposure it's going to bring him is ridiculous. His editor says he's already gotten five offers, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and one at the Guardian."

"He's always wanted to get out of magazines." Lois agreed. "Work at a paper."

"And the Guardian would mean he could go home. The Post would put him in line for the more high profile political pieces and the Times…" Chloe sighed. "If I tell him-"She shook her head. "If I ask him, he can't say no to me and he might miss out on his dream. How can I do that?"

"Because it's the opportunity of a lifetime." Lois pointed out. "Yeah the Times is great, the Post and the Guardian all good papers but do you have any idea what you're offering him on a silver platter, it's worth it."

"Hand me your phone." Dinah set her drink on the bar and held out here hand.

"Why?" Chloe asked wearily even as she passed the phone over.

"I'm letting the fates decide." Dinah smirked and pushed a button.

************

When the party had died down and Jake had come to terms with the fact that Oliver really was giving him the car and everyone had complemented Finn on the article so many times that his face was stuck in a permanent smile, Chloe tossed her arm over his shoulder and smiled at him brilliantly. "Come back to ours for a night cap." She said.

"I didn't drive." Finn shook his head. "And I can't get a cab after nine from your place." He reminded her.

"You'll stay in the guest room." Chloe said, knowing that she was not going to take no for an answer. "We've got something to talk to you about." Finn turned to look at Oliver and then back at Chloe and just nodded.

"Ok." He walked out to Oliver's car. The ride there was slightly strange. Oliver seemed to be on edge and for some reason kept sneaking glances at Chloe as if asking her, 'Are you sure?'. She just kept smiling and nodding and apparently that was good enough for him.

They pulled up into the familiar driveway in silence. Finn had driven into this driveway too many times to count these past eight months. He'd stayed in that guest room even more times than that. He somehow become so familiar with the house he could find the spare key with his eyes closed but he didn't. He waited patiently by the door for Chloe to find her key because something about this felt different, felt strange, felt life altering.

"Beer?" Oliver asked as they slipped in the entryway and Finn nodded. Oliver walked over to the bar and poured Finn a pint and then one for himself as Chloe uncorked a bottle of red wine.

"So you wanted to talk to me about something?" Finn reminded them.

"Did you ever wonder why we chose you?" Oliver asked sitting down on the couch. Finn only wondered that every day for the past eight months but for some reason he dreaded asking. He nodded and Oliver turned to Chloe. "Go on, tell him."

"I want to start off by saying that none of the other stuff would have mattered if I didn't like your work, your writing style." Chloe pre-empted her explanation.

"What other stuff?" Finn sat down.

"Chloe's become quite superstitious." Oliver smirked.

"It's not superstitious." Chloe grunted in annoyance trying to figure out how to word it. "It's just I've recently realized that there are signs out there, signs that nudge me in the right direction sometimes."

"Explain it to him like you explained it to me." Oliver laughed.

"It's was the Beatles." Chloe said sheepishly.

"The Beatles?" Finn asked confused.

"They talk to her." Oliver raised his eyebrows.

"They don't talk to me. Now you're making me sound crazy." She glared at him, but there wasn't any malice in it. "It's just sometimes they point me in the right direction. They led me to you."

"Is this just because I'm British and they're British?" Finn narrowed his eyes at her.

Chloe glared at him this time and took a deep breath. "Did you know your magazine was named after a Beatles song?" Finn shook his head. "After Savoy Truffle." She explained. "The founder of the magazine thought it sounded exotic and this was around the time when magazines like Harper's Bazaar and Vanity Fair were coming out. Eventually they dropped Truffle from the title because people were mistaking it for a cooking magazine and Savoy was born."

"Ok, so you chose me because the magazine I worked for was named after a Beatles song?" Finn wasn't sure why but this whole thing seemed amusing to him.

"Sort of." Chloe squirmed clearly uncomfortable revealing this to him, which was ridiculous because he'd asked much more personal questions before in the writing of the article. "I was reading one of your articles, the one about the Senator who was taking kickbacks from the tobacco industry, great story by the way, and I caught your by line. Finn Macintosh."

Finn dug through his memory banks trying to see a connection when Oliver offered it for him. "Macintosh is a type of apple; Apple is the company the Beatles started." That was easy enough to understand but he still didn't see what it had to do with him and why Chloe chose him.

"George Harrison wrote that song for Eric Clapton you know. Teasing him because Eric had gone to the dentist and had so many cavities he was told he'd have to give up chocolate." Chloe did that all the time, threw out random bits of Beatles trivia that served no purpose or relevance to the current topic at hand. Things like, 'Yesterday' was originally called 'Scrambled Eggs' or 'Across the Universe' was the only song ever intentionally transmitted into outer space. Finn was used to it by now, he never understood why though until she nodded at Oliver, who was giving her look. "He thinks I'm crazy, but he seems to forget that the Beatles saved his life."

"When did this happen?" Finn laughed but neither of them did. "Seriously?"

"This is the part of the evening where you either get really mad at us or really happy." Chloe said and took a deep breath. "We lied to you."

"You did?" Finn set his beer on the table. "About what?"

"A lot of things." Oliver elaborated. "Almost everything." Chloe smacked him.

"Not that much." She glared at her husband. "All the stuff about us and how we met and all that was the truth, with a few omissions here and there. We lied about Clearwater Ridge though, about what really happened."

"I don't understand." Finn looked between the two of them. Both of their phones beeped and Finn checked his watch, wondering who would be calling them at half past midnight.

"Maybe it'll be easier if we just show him." Oliver offered.

"Follow me." Chloe held out her hand and Finn grabbed it, allowing her to lead him through the house. She led him down the hallway, past the guest room, past the office and into the library. Chloe dropped his hand then and walked over to a shelf on the wall, her hands sliding across the spines of books until she found the one she was looking for and when Finn looked closer he realized it was, _Securing the Watchtower,_ the book that Oliver had given her for their anniversary. She turned and smiled at him before pulling the spine of the book toward her.

If he hadn't seen it with his own two eyes he never would have believed it. As if their lives had turned into some cheesy spy movie a small portion of one of the bookshelves moved slightly, just enough so that Finn noticed it. "You ready?" Chloe asked, her hand pushing the bookshelf so that it swung in to revel a stair case.

Finn swallowed but found himself nodding as Chloe took the first step and somehow his feet knew to follow her. By the time he hit the last step his eyes had somewhat adjusted to the dark and he could see Chloe reach out to the nearest wall and flip a switch. She knew exactly where it was, even in the dark. The lights flickered to life one by one and Finn found himself inside a ridiculously cavernous space.

"See told you it wasn't just a book." Chloe walked further into the room.

With the image still stuck in his head of a cheesy spy movie he found himself not at all surprised that one entire wall of the room seemed to be covered with monitors and computer equipment that seemed to come to life as Chloe walked past them. "They're motion sensitive." Oliver explained at the look on Finn's face. He clapped the man on the back and smiled brightly then. "I love this part." Was all he offered in explanation before disappearing into another room.

"Chloe…what…"

"We're Superheroes." She said so suddenly and unabashedly that he had no reason to believe that she wasn't telling the truth.

"Right." Finn took a few steps closer, still trying to take in everything. "What kind of Superheroes?" He asked.

"The awesome kind." Bart said, suddenly right beside him and this time Finn couldn't help but jump slightly in the air.

"Bart, not cool." Chloe shook her head but smiled none the less.

"Oh right like blurting out, 'we're Superheroes' was the way to go." Bart smirked at her.

"Can I help you with something?" Chloe put her hands on her hips. "Aren't you supposed to be doing advance at the airport?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm on it, totally but the thing is." He held out his hand and offered Chloe a handful of small pieces of broken plastic.

"How did you manage that this time?" Chloe asked accepting the shards and dumping them in the trash.

"Ok, so I was in Paris this afternoon." Bart started.

"Wait, what were you doing in Paris this afternoon?" Chloe glared at him, already not buying this story.

"Shopping for your birthday present?" Bart flashed her an 'I'm totally innocent and oh so cute' smile that only slightly worked on Chloe. "Anyway, while I'm there, I maybe sort of happened to possibly get the tiniest bit…attacked." He finally said.

"Right. You sort of kind of managed to get attacked while shopping in Paris." Chloe shook her head. "Of all the luck huh?"

"I know right." Bart seemed to relax. "Guy just whoosh, came out of nowhere." Bart shrugged. "What can you do right?" Chloe's smile faded.

"What guy?" She sat down and crossed her legs. Bart swallowed hard. "I mean what kind of guy gets the drop on you?"

"Well obviously that's a very good question." Bart scratched the back of his head and looked around the room, as if expecting someone to come in and save him. "It might have possibly, I mean I didn't get a really good look you know, what with the being attacked, but it could have been Sawyer." The last word was said with a whisper but Chloe caught it none the less.

"You tracked Sawyer to Paris?" Chloe asked leaning forward in her chair. "And what, instead of coming and telling me, Oliver told you to go after him?"

"You actually tracked Sawyer to Paris." Bart pointed out. "Or your amazing Watchtower did." He motioned to the computers. "We just happened to catch it before you. And Oliver most definitely did not at any point tell me to go to Paris, ever." Chloe glared and Bart gulped. Chloe raised one single eyebrow and Bart sighed. "He might have mentioned that it would better if we had some firsthand recon to share with you to enable you to better come up with a course of action."

"You are in so much trouble you know that, right honey?" Chloe called across the room and Finn swore he heard Oliver curse from behind the door.

"One thing, you can't keep one thing from her?" Oliver called back.

"What's rule number one?" Chloe asked Bart pointedly.

"We don't keep secrets." Bart recited nodding as if he knew that all along and it had been Oliver's horrible influence that led him down the path of darkness. "I know, I promise."

"You go off like that alone again, and you get yourself killed and I'm not gonna cry for you." Chloe was opening drawers and slamming them annoyed.

"I know." Bart said, still nodding. "I'm sorry."

"Sawyer is bad news and you're just lucky that Stone or Corben or…or Wether wasn't with him." Chloe handed Bart a brand new earpiece and he nodded some more.

"I know." Bart said again and Chloe sighed.

"Any injuries?" She surreptitiously looked him over.

"I'm fine." Bart blushed at her gaze and she nodded.

"Go." She said, the annoyance giving away to affection in her eyes and Finn smiled. "Try not to do something stupid yeah?"

"I'll do my best darling." He winked and then disappeared in a red blur. Only then did Finn register what he'd been wearing, what he'd been saying. The red leather suit, the fact that he'd been in Paris that afternoon and the name Sawyer, it sounded familiar, then he remembered. Lieutenant Colonel Scott Sawyer was the self proclaimed Warmaker One. He was the head of a group of Meta terrorists who were calling themselves the Ultramarine Corp. They were ex-US Soldiers who'd been genetically enhanced and were led by a Megalomaniacal psycho, General Wade Eiling. The Justice League had been in a pretty public war with the group for some time now.

"That was Impulse." Finn said astonished connecting the Ultramarines to the JLA then the JLA to Bart. "Bart is Impulse? Impulse is Bart?" His mind was working over time. They weren't just superheroes, they were the freaking Justice League, and everything started slotting into place in his mind, every new revelation like a sucker punch to the gut. If Bart was Impulse then AC was probably Aquaman, Victor was Cyborg, Dinah was Canary. "So Oliver is…"

"The Green Arrow." Oliver said stepping out of the side room now dressed in full green leather costume, hood and glasses. He reached up and subtly pushed a button on the chest of his costume and smiled. "Pretty cool huh?" He asked, his voice now distorted to that familiar deep tone the Green Arrow always used.

The effect was ruined however when a hundred and ten pounds of pissed off blonde smacked him upside the head in anger. "That hurt." Oliver glared at her.

"Good." She huffed and Oliver nodded and just like that they were ok again. "The plane's due in at one, Impulse is already there doing advance recon and you are not going to make it unless you leave right now." Chloe told him then planted a soft but serious kiss on Oliver's lips and he smiled.

"I'm going, I'm going." Oliver assured her.

"Don't take the bike." Chloe called out as he walked to the steps. "It's supposed to rain later." He nodded without stopping and was on the second step when Chloe called for him to wait. He turned around and frowned at the look on her face. "Be careful yeah?"

Oliver smiled at her and pushed off the hood and the glasses before walking back. "I'm always careful." He countered.

"Liar." Chloe whispered up at him and her smile fell for just a fraction of a second so Oliver leaned down and kissed her, good and proper, pulling her flush up against him as his fingers tangled in her hair. When he pulled away Chloe smiled up at him hazily.

"I'll be careful." He assured her and she nodded, pushing him away.

"You're going to be late." She reminded him.

"They can survive without me for a few minutes." Oliver scoffed but walked back toward the steps anyway. When he was gone Chloe turned to Finn who still seemed to be digesting everything.

"So that makes you?" Finn turned to Chloe.

"Watchtower." Chloe slipped another blue tooth like thing in her ear and nodded. "What do you say?" Chloe held out her hand, another blue tooth for him as she smiled. "Want to know more?"

Finn seemed to snap out of his stupor at once and he grabbed the ear piece with a huge grin on his face. "Hell yeah."

As Chloe did something magical and very likely illegal with the computers she explained everything to Finn. She told him about growing up in Smallville, about the rocks, about Metas and meteor powers and aliens and Oliver and the team and what they did and how they did it and how they got together. The whole story was set to a backdrop of random snatches of conversation that Finn was picking up through his earpiece.

"What are they doing now?" He asked.

"Eiling's coming into Star City, flight plan has him arriving at one and leaving again at two thirty, I for one would like to know why." Chloe explained. "Who is he coming to see? Why is he coming to see them in the middle of the night?"

"So what you're going to great the plane on the tarmac and ask him all this and he's gonna tell you?" Finn tried to keep the smirk off of his face.

"Yeah, if only life were that easy." Chloe snorted. "No Impulse is going to follow him while Arrow and Cyborg plant a bug in his plane and try and hack into his system."

"Canary and Aquaman, what are they doing?" Finn asked.

"It's their night off." Chloe shrugged. "I have absolutely no idea." Finn laughed internally at the thought of Superheroes having a day off, but supposed everyone was entitled.

"We're sure this Intel is good?" Oliver asked.

"Straight from the G-man himself." Chloe said. "Washington's been monitoring Eiling for some time now but they've got no cause for further action so it was passed onto us, secretly of course." Chloe added for Finn's benefit. If he had to guess he'd be willing to bet G-man was Special Agent Conner Mason.

"Do I need to be worried about 5-0?" Oliver's distorted Green Arrow voice came over the comms and Finn realized that question was directed to Chloe.

"No, I've got Columbo on that, you're good." Chloe answered him.

Before Finn could ask who that was another familiar voice sounded in his ear. "Already got them investigating an imaginary hit and run halfway across town. You're out of French Roast by the way." If Finn wasn't mistaken, and he was about 99% sure he wasn't, that voice belonged to none other than Captain Mia Stevens of the Star City Police Department.

"Impossible." Bart scoffed in disbelief. "Have you checked behind the food processor in the appliance pantry?"

"Empty." Mia said.

"The third cookie jar on the second counter?" Oliver offered.

"Nothing but cookies." Mia said.

"The freezer in the guest house?" Victor piped up.

"Just ice cream and steaks, which is slightly weird." Finn agreed and Chloe held up her hands in a, "Not me" sort of way.

"Did you check the bottom drawer in the dresser in her closet?" Finn asked, speaking over the comms for the first time and was met by a full minute of silence and then an amused chuckle.

"Nice one Scoop." Mia said appreciatively.

About fifteen minutes later Mia walked down into Watchtower holding a bag of coffee grinds triumphantly in her hands. She headed to the corner of the room and started a fresh pot. "So when did you tell her?" Finn asked Chloe.

"She didn't have to tell me." Mia smirked. "I figured it out all by my lonesome." Finn just stared at her. "It is sort of my job to observe people, figure out if they're hiding any secrets, or you know secret identities."

"It didn't hurt that Impulse was flaunting his powers in front of you at every chance he got." Chloe rolled her eyes.

"I was not flaunting." Bart protested.

"He was flaunting." Mia laughed and winked at Finn.

"You figured it out?" Finn asked in disbelief. "All on your own?"

"You're just jealous because it took me less than eight hours and you've been following them around for almost eight months and never suspected." Mia smirked as the coffee pot started to drip.

"That's not true." Finn protested.

"Don't worry Scoop we won't hold it against you." Mia tossed an arm over his shoulder.

"Could you please not call me that?" Finn asked hopefully.

"As a code name it kind of works." Chloe smiled in appreciation. "I think we'll keep it."

"No really, it's not necessary." Finn protested but the look on Chloe's face let him know he really didn't have a say in the matter. "Fine if I have to have a code name, could I at least pick something…better?"

"I'm hurt you know." Mia said, her voice managed to portray a note of pouting somehow.

"No one gets to choose their own names." Bart informed him sadly. "You think I wanted to be called Impulse?"

"Even Arrow didn't choose his." Victor pointed out. "Some reporter saddled it with him with it."

"Wonder who that could have been." Chloe joked.

Finn remembered. The very first article about the Green Arrow Bandit had been written by none other than Lois Lane herself. "Did she know?" Finn asked slowly.

"Nope." Chloe shook her head and smiled. "And she was dating him at the time."

"She's almost as thick as you." Mia turned around and winked at him.

"Oh I'm so never letting her live that down." Finn joked.

"God she was dating Boy scout for how long before she figured him out?" Mia sighed.

"Three years." Chloe allowed herself a small chuckle. "Hey at least she figured it out before the wedding, that would have been embarrassing. But don't bring that up it's still a really sore subject."

"Boy scout?" Finn asked confused.

"Sorry, force of habit." Chloe shook her head. "Old code name. I'm sure you know him better as Superman."

Finn's jaw actually did drop at that. "You mean Superman is…and she's…" He put it all together in his head. Lois was married to Clark who she'd been with for almost ten years now and if he imagined him without the glasses…"Superman is-" Two hands were violently shoved over his mouth and he turned to find Mia glaring at him on one side and Chloe shaking her on his other.

"Not over the comms." She reminded him and he nodded. She dropped her hand and walked away. Mia however still had her hand over his mouth and when she realized this she blushed suddenly at their close proximity before heading back and pouring a cup of coffee.

***************

All in all, sitting in on a mission with the JLA was pretty boring all things considered. Finn was amazed at how well Chloe managed to multitask and every now and then she'd hear Mia's voice redirecting certain police cars with fake break ins or reported gunshots, effectively keeping the police away from where ever the guys were headed. A memory suddenly popped into Finn's head and he turned to Chloe. "Is that what you did to me, the day we met?" He motioned to Mia who was manipulating traffic lights and subtly steering the cop cars where she wanted them to be and Chloe at least had the decency to blush.

"I thought you might need a gentle nudge in the right direction." She shrugged.

"All this time I thought it was fate or destiny or whatever." Finn said sounding suddenly very disillusioned.

"Just because I moved it along a bit, doesn't mean it wasn't fate." Chloe called over his shoulder.

"Moved it along a little?" Finn protested. "You blew a gas main on Meyers and caused a sink hole."

"Funnily enough, that was an unfortunate side effect of a completely unrelated matter." Chloe winced. "But it all worked out in the end."

"Cyborg's almost in the computer." Oliver interrupted them. "Where's Eiling?"

"Impulse has him going into a Brownstone on Collins an hour ago." Chloe explained. "Hasn't come out yet." She typed rapidly on the computer and before Oliver had a chance to ask, she was answering his question. "I'm pulling up the info now." Chloe's fingers slid confidently over the keyboard. "The deed is registered to KryTech Industries. It's a corporate apartment." Chloe shook her head in annoyance. "There's no telling who could be staying there."

"KryTech, isn't that the place…" Mia turned to Chloe who caught on to what she was not saying, the place where Lois had broken into just last week.

"Son of a bitch." Chloe groaned. "She's going to be insufferable about this."

"When isn't she insufferable?" Oliver remarked. "Hold on." He called out before Chloe had a chance to inform him that it was perfectly ok for her to rag on her cousin but unacceptable for Oliver to do so. "A car just pulled up."

"Eiling?" Chloe asked concerned.

"I don't think so."

"Impulse report." Chloe asked turning her attention to another screen and pulling up what looked like the airport security feed.

"Eiling's still inside." Bart said. "I can see him through the front window. It's not him."

"Shit its Wether." Oliver cursed. "Cyborg you really need to wrap it up."

"I'm almost in." Victor told him, teeth gritted.

"We don't have time for almost." Oliver informed him.

Finn swallowed. Captain John Wether, called himself Pulse 8, he supposedly had control over the very forces of the universe. Finn remembers a story about a woman in Moscow whom he'd crushed to a pulp simply by increasing the gravity around her. "I need five more minutes." Victor said frantically as another screen came to life on Chloe's board and information started downloading at a rapid fire pace.

"I might be able to give you two." Oliver said. "He's coming up the steps."

"Arrow, do not engage." Chloe jumped up from her chair. "I repeat do not engage, you don't have the proper back up, you can't possibly hope to-"

"Arrow going silent running." He interrupted her and suddenly his comm link went dead.

"That stupid…" Chloe grunted in frustration. "Cyborg, report." When his comm link responded with nothing but static Chloe almost lost it completely.

"Should I abandon subject and backup Arrow?" Bart asked and Chloe didn't say anything. "Watchtower? Do you want me to abandon the subject?"

"No." Chloe shook her head. "Stay on Eiling, whatever Arrow's doing, I gotta trust him."

"Roger that." Bart said quietly.

Five more minutes of radio silence and then it crackled to life. "Arrow and Cyborg on line, reporting in, on the move back to base."

"What the bloody hell was that?" Chloe snapped at him.

"Sorry but you said not to engage so we had to figure out how to sneak out of a private jet that's no bigger than our downstairs bathroom with only one entrance and exit without being seen." Oliver informed her. "I mean I had to pull on all my mad ninja skills just to do that, and despite what you may believe that's not an easy task when you're yapping away in my ear." Chloe didn't say anything and Oliver back peddled fast. "And when I say yapping you know I mean that in the most endearing way possible it's just hard to concentrate when…Cyborg a little help?"

"Sure, you want me to get you a shovel, help you dig that hole a little deeper?" He laughed.

"I hate you." Oliver sighed.

"It's late, Cyborg, Impulse wrap it up and head in tomorrow for debriefing. Oh and Arrow, don't even think about stepping foot in here unless you've got some baklava."

"Yes ma'am." Oliver breathed a sigh of relief.

Mia started to close down her computers and left but not before smiling at Finn and offering him a soft, "Welcome to the team."

Chloe worked for a little while longer, sorting through all the stuff that Victor had sent her from Eiling's computer until they heard the door open. Finn watched as Oliver slowly made his way down the steps, a bag with the familiar logo from Mykonos on the front and dropped it in front of Chloe's computer. "Honey I'm home." Chloe turned to him slowly. "I did not engage." He reminded her and she sighed before nodding.

"I know." She stood up and stretched, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"So what did you think?" Oliver turned his attention to Finn who panicked at suddenly being thrust into the spotlight.

A million thoughts were running through his head from how surreal this evening was on one hand to how completely awesome it was on the other. "I'm not sure." He paused. "Why did you show me this?" He finally asked them.

"We have something we'd like to ask you." Chloe motioned for him to sit and he did. "We need your help. You've seen what we do here; I've told you things we've done the things we'd like to do. You know the good that we can achieve." He nodded at her. "The problem is, not everyone sees it that way. They see people like Warmaker, people like Pulse 8 and they think we're all like that, they lump us all together. Freaks, criminals and we're not."

"Of course not." Finn shook his head.

"But, as a friend pointed out to me a few years ago, we don't exactly get the best press." Chloe told him. "That's where we'd like you to come in. We need someone on our side, someone who we can feel comfortable enough with to talk to; to give the full story to without worrying that it'll become twisted and changed by the time it gets to print."

"And that someone is me?" Finn asked her.

"Look, I know you can basically write your own ticket now. Your editor told me about all the offers you'd been getting and I know one of them is with the Star City Chronicle." Chloe said. "I'm asking you to take that job. I'm asking you to turn down the Times and the Post and Guardian and stay here. The Chronicle might not be as glamorous as the other papers or as high profile but in return you get us. You get total access to the JLA, interviews, one on one accounts, we'll give the first option at each and every story. I know what I'm asking here, trust me I know how much you'll have to sacrifice and for that reason I almost didn't ask you."

"Total access?" Finn asked suddenly bitter. "You mean like the total access you promised before?"

Chloe actually blushed at that and Finn softened slightly. "I'm sure you can understand why we couldn't just tell you all this on our second meeting. We're telling you now."

Finn nodded. They were telling him now and even if he wasn't showing it, he did truly understand how monumental this was for them. The fact that they trusted him enough to let them in on the biggest secret of not only their lives but of the lives of everyone else around them was staggering. "You've never asked me anything before." He said softly as if it had just occurred to him and it kind of did.

"What?" Chloe frowned confused.

"From the day that we met, you've never before asked me to do something. You've only just…told me to do it and I did." Finn thought back over their now eight month relationship. Chloe hadn't even asked him if he'd wanted to write the article, she'd just told him, "You're going to write our story" and he'd said, "Ok", she'd told him that he was going to come over for dinner, that he was going to take off work and spend a week with them in Brussels, not three hours ago Chloe had not asked him but told him that he would stay the night in the guest room and to all of those things he'd simply said ok.

"I'm sorry; it's a force of habit I guess." Chloe was blushing now, furiously ashamed when she realized he'd been right, she'd been bossing him around for eight months like a big old bully.

"No, it's fine really." He assured her, and it was. It never occurred to Finn that he had the option to say no to Chloe, it never even occurred to Finn to want to say no to Chloe. He knew that she wouldn't care; he knew that she wasn't some spoiled little rich girl who was just used to getting her way, who would stomp and whine if he refused to go along with her. She was simply just confident enough that the thought never really crossed her mind either that anyone would _want_ to say no to her so really what was even the point in asking.

"So what do you say?" Chloe bit her lip nervously and Finn finally realized how much power she'd just laid at his feet and wondered for likely the millionth time since he'd met this remarkable woman if he'd ever have half the courage that she did.

"I won't be your puppet." He warned her. "I'll be fair and balanced and I won't purposefully paint you as murdering freaks, but if I don't agree with something that you do I'll say it, and I'll say it publically. If I agree to this, I'm not just going to be regurgitating whatever you want me to say."

"Of course not, I would never assume." Chloe stared at him in shock that he could think that of her.

"We don't want a mouthpiece, we need to held accountable for our actions to the public. We tread a very fine line here, skirting around the law for what we believe is justice and we know how truly easy it would be to cross that line, trust us." Oliver swallowed and snuck a glance over at Chloe and Finn knew, somehow instinctively knew that he was talking about Clearwater Ridge. "But we also need the people to know that what we do, we do for them, we fight for them, that we're on their side."

"I'll have complete access? Nothing is off limits?" Finn was pacing now, thinking this over.

"Complete and total. We've already laid everything out to you now, there's nothing more to hide." Chloe shrugged.

"And I'll control what goes to print?" He stared at her.

"We'd appreciate it if you didn't, you know, out us in any way but other than that, you write whatever you want to write." Oliver nodded.

"And I get the exclusive?" Finn asked. "You talk to no one else? You tell your story to no one else, not even Lois?"

"Only you." Chloe promised.

Finn allowed a slow smile to spread across his features. Sure Chloe was asking him to give up a lot, a chance to go back home the conquering hero and take a high profile job at the Guardian, a chance to work at the Times, the paper that had made him want to become a reporter in the first place. But what she offered in return was just too good to pass up. He'd have the exclusive, the direct line to the most public and influential superheroes of his time and with that was almost guaranteed syndication in every paper on the planet. Beyond that she was offering him a chance to be on the inside, a chance to be one of the good guys, to do his part to fight injustice. If any reporter said that wasn't the real reason that they put up with lousy pay and bad hours and under appreciation then they were liars.

"What made you decide to tell me tonight?" He asked suddenly and Chloe frowned. "You said you almost didn't ask me, what made you change your mind? Decide you should do it?"

"I rolled the dice and let the fates decide." Chloe said.

"What does that mean?" Finn frowned.

"She hit shuffle on her iPod." Oliver said. "Then waited to see what Beatles played. Sort of like her version of a magic 8 ball, it's how she makes all her decisions."

"Not all of them." Chloe protested.

"And what song played?" Finn was curious now.

"Do You Want to Know A Secret?" Chloe smiled brightly.

Finn allowed himself a small smile before shaking his head resigned. "I guess it's just fate then isn't it?"

"So you'll do it?" Chloe asked hopefully.

"Right now, I'm going to bed. In the morning, I think I'm going to book a flight and spend a few glorious weeks in someplace tropical, like Fiji because seriously, I deserve a vacation. But when I get back, I want the whole story, the real story this time." Finn turned around and walked out of the room.

"He's in." Oliver smiled at her.

"He's so in." Chloe nodded as she shut her system down.

"So what song really came up?" Oliver asked as he stripped off the leather and pulled himself into jeans and a t-shirt.

"What do you mean?" Chloe feigned innocence.

"I mean I know when you're lying and I know for a fact that you lied to Finn just now so tell me, what song really came up?" Oliver crossed his arms over his chest.

"Sgt Pepper." Chloe wrinkled her nose in frustration. "But I really like Finn and if it had to be someone I wanted it to be him."

Oliver turned and smiled at her. "So fates not always as clear cut as you make it out to be then?"

"Sometimes fate needs a little push." Chloe shrugged and turned off the light, heading back up to the library. "So listen, Bart's birthday's coming up in a few months and I was thinking."

"No."

"You don't even know what I'm going to say." Chloe protested.

"I do too." Oliver shook his head. "And there is no way we're buying him an Aston Martin DB5." Chloe turned to him, a pout already on her lips. "Chloe seriously."

"You do realize that you and I wouldn't even be together if it weren't for Bart."

"That's not fair." Oliver said a warning tone in his voice.

"And I never would have moved out here if he hadn't convinced me." Chloe kept going.

"I thought I convinced you." Oliver said as they emerged in the library. "With the karaoke and the song."

"That was sweet honey really." Chloe patted his back in a slightly condescending way. "But honestly."

"Next you're going to say that he's the reason we got married." Oliver snorted and Chloe offered him a sheepish glance. "Oh come on."

"Well you might have had something to do with it." Chloe acquiesced. "You are terribly charming when you want to be and I suppose there's something to be said for your chiseled cheek bones and ridiculously rock hard abs." She smirked, slipping her fingers up his shirt and lightly running them down the aforementioned abs as she pressed a soft kiss on to his lips.

"So now you only married me for my abs?" Oliver joked. "I almost liked it better when Bart was the reason."

Chloe leaned her forehead on his chest and chuckled into his t-shirt. "There are a hundred thousand different reasons that I married you Oliver Queen and your abs are frighteningly low on the list." She assured him. "As is Bart." He smiled at that. "But the fact that he's made the list at all should entitle him to something don't you think?"

Oliver pursed his lips and knew it was hopeless, until the day he died he knew that he'd never be capable of denying Chloe anything. "Fine." He pulled her closer and kissed the tip of her forehead. "But he's got to keep it clean and make sure there's always gas in it and be responsible for the oil changes and any scheduled and unscheduled maintenance."

Chloe was smiling up at him like a maniac now and he'd buy Bart five hundred Aston Martin's if Chloe would just smile at him like that every day. "You're the best." She said, grabbing his hand and pulling him toward the stairs and their bed room.

"Just out of curiosity?" Oliver asked as they hit the landing. "How frighteningly low are my abs on that list?" Chloe stopped and turned to him incredulous. "It's just I work really hard to look this good and I'd hate it if the effort was not appreciated."

"Oliver, does it really matter why I decided to marry you, so long as I decided to marry you?" Chloe joked with him.

"I suppose not." He sighed in defeat. "I mean so long as you didn't use the iPod shuffle method." He laughed but noticed after a minute that Chloe wasn't laughing with him; in fact she had a decidedly guilty look on her face.

"If it makes you feel better, I had to do it a couple of times until I got the song I wanted so really…" She frowned at the incredulous look Oliver was giving her and slowly started to back her way up the stairs.

"What song came up the first time?" He asked following her movements.

"It doesn't matter." Chloe shook her head.

"Of course it matters." Oliver scoffed at her. "What song came up?"

"Really, you don't need to know."

"What happened to rule number one?" Oliver protested as she stepped backwards again, her arm on the wall feeling for the door to their bedroom.

"This happened before rule number one was instituted so it doesn't count." Chloe shook her head as her fingers latched onto the door knob.

"That's the excuse you use whenever I try to get you to tell me what happened that night you went out with Bruce for the Hospital fundraiser auction."

"That is not completely my secret to tell." Chloe reminded him, slipping into the room and backing up until her the back of her knees hit the mattress. Oliver's arms reached out quickly, grabbing her around the waist and catching her so off guard that she actually yelped in surprise.

"There are ways of making you talk Mrs. Queen." He whispered, his lips so close to hers that she could feel them brush softly against her skin.

"I'll never talk." She challenged him.

"Is that so?" Oliver smirked at her amused by the challenge and he lifted her up quickly and tossed her to the bed. She laughed in response before he fell down on top of her and he was right there. Sometimes, even after two years, it still amazed her that he was alive, and he was smiling at her and his weight was heavy on top of her and suddenly she couldn't remember what had been so funny as her breath hitched from the intense look he was giving her.

"Alright." She licked her lips, her voice a soft whisper. "Ask me anything, what do you want to know?"

Oliver just smiled in return and for the first time in a long time Chloe suddenly had the feeling that everything really was going to be alright now.

**

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**Did you think it was over? No there's still more, head on to the next chapter for Finn's Article. **


	10. Stumbling Upon Camelot by Finn Macintosh

So here it is. Finn's article on Chloe and Oliver for Savoy Magazine. There is an awesome article that I made with help from Tehzo with pictures and a fake cover and everything. The link is: issuu. com / bella8876 / docs / savoyjuly2011. When you type it in, take away the spaces. This is the only way for some reason I could post the link here, every time I try another way they take it out. Also at my LJ bella8876 . livejournal . com there is even more bonus content from the story. Hope you enjoy.

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On November 22, 1963, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas at 12:30 p.m. Seven days later in an interview with Life magazine, Jacqueline Kennedy coined a term that would come to define a moment in our nation's history with, of all things, a line from a musical. "Don't let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief shining moment, that was known as Camelot."

Camelot means different things to different people. It no longer simply stands for a mythical land of knights and round tables, of justice and honor, of kings and queens. It persists today as more of an idea, an imagined utopia where everything is brighter, everything is better. It's a shiny new world where bravery and honor mean something, where chivalry is not dead, where anything is possible.

The early 60's were ripe for the taking. Change was in the air, paradigms were shifting, and possibilities that were never before imagined were suddenly just in reach. We were going to send a man to the moon, schools were being integrated, and Rock and Roll was here to stay. People wanted something new, they were craving something new and the person to give it to them was John Kennedy.

He was handsome, charismatic, and ready for the task ahead of him. His wife was the epitome of grace, style, and compassion. Together they made what was likely the first power couple. They were young, they were energetic, were going to be the leaders of the revolution, they could have changed the world. Their story ended on that fateful Friday, but their spirit, their legacy lived on.

Skeptics claim there was never a Camelot. That we merely idealized things after the tragedy. Sanded away the rough edges in our memories and forced this supposed Utopia over everything to cover the cracks. Maybe they were right, maybe we never did reach that place, but we never stopped looking. For some of us the Kennedy's showed us something amazing, even if it was only a glimpse, just a snapshot of what could have been and we wanted more, we_ want_ more.

Many have tried since then to recapture that spirit, to recreate that Camelot, and all have failed. Some have sought it out and others have had it thrust upon them but none have been successful. Personally I've always thought it was a nice dream, but a dream none the less. I definitely never believed I'd live to see the day, that it would happen in my lifetime, not until I met Chloe and Oliver.

It wasn't like the second I set eyes on them I just knew. It was a gradual thing, the realization sort of snuck up on me actually. I remember the moment vividly though. It's one of those rare memories that I believe will always stick with me, down to the last detail. It was a day that I will probably be describing to my grandkids at some point with a fond smile on my face.

It was a lazy Sunday. Chloe had called me two hours before hand, said she was organizing a last minute barbeque because the rain that had been plaguing Northern California for two weeks finally broke and she wanted, she needed, to be outside. She never asked me if I wanted to come, never considered that I wouldn't want to come, she simply told me that I'd been elected to pick up the potato salad. (It is a sacred side dish at the Queen house and only ever came from one place, a small home run rib joint that was twenty minutes out of my way, but definitely worth the gas).

When I got there, Chloe traded my potato salad for a platter of perfectly butchered steaks and told me to deliver them to Oliver outside and asked if I could please make sure that they hadn't set the yard on fire. As I passed the kitchen, I saw her cousin Lois sitting at the counter mixing up a pitcher of iced tea. Lois lived in Metropolis and I realized that Chloe had probably sent the jet to bring her town just for the day, just for the barbeque and then I realized that something like that didn't even shock me anymore. I'd been hanging out around the rich and famous for far too long.

When I got outside, Oliver traded my platter of steaks for a glass filled to the brim with Guinness, something that had recently been put on tap at the Queen bar, specifically for me if you wanted to believe Oliver, which I learned from Chloe to do so only very rarely. I looked around him to see a massive fire pit out in the middle of the yard, flames taller than me by half licking the sky, a couple of guys walking around it cautious and I raised my eyebrows, now understanding Chloe's request. "I've got it under control." Oliver assured me with a clap on the back.

I opted to stay far away from the flames and walked over to the deck instead where Lois' husband Clark was watching the Sharks game while secretly keeping an eye on the flames behind him. "Oliver says they've got it under control." I offered, checking the score, 14 to 3.

"Oliver's said that before." Clark smiled at me. "Strangely enough, every time he says it, I spend half my night in the ER getting lectured by the on call intern about the correct way to light fireworks, or that there was a reason they stopped making and selling lawn darts." He snorted.

No one had to go to the ER and the steaks were only slightly burnt, "Blackened," Oliver protested. The sun was slowly dripping towards the horizon and I was drinking my third pint of Guinness while Lois and Clark argued over a Sharks game from five years ago. Chloe and Oliver were pretending to play croquet in the yard. They didn't know what they were doing and the ground was so wet the wickets kept falling over and the balls kept getting stuck in the mud. I'd given her the set a few weeks ago when she mentioned she'd always wanted to learn how to play.

"Finn, I'm _supposed_ to hit his ball aren't I? Like shuffleboard right?" Chloe demanded.

"Not exactly." I'd tried several times since giving it to her to explain how to play, but for some reason croquet was too hard a concept to grasp, even for a woman who once spent over three hours discussing the intricacies of a single line of programming in the new Windows operating system.

"You know what?" Chloe shook her head. "I'm just gonna make up my own game." And she did, pulling us all out into the yard thirty minutes later when she'd finished rearranging the wickets to her liking. "Everyone grab a mallet." She said with a smile on her face and then proceeded to explain to us the rules to her new game, a new game she was calling Hocquetball. It was a cross between Hockey, Croquet, and Baseball and once the kinks were worked out it was actually quite fun.

Clark pulled me to my feet two hours later after I narrowly beat the ball into the home wicket (basically home base, only instead of a base, it was a wicket), with a spectacularly muddy slide earning us the winning goal when it happened. With a whoop of joy, Chloe threw her mallet into the air and jumped on Oliver's back in celebration. She caught him by surprise and he tumbled to the ground, taking Chloe with him, sinking into a large mud puddle and drenching the both of them, head to foot.

It didn't deter either of them, however. They tried multiple times to pull themselves out of the mud, only to lose their footing and slid back to the ground, growing even muddier by the second, laughing the whole time. A maid handed me a towel with an amused and resigned expression on her face and I tried to clean off from my own mud bath. "Mrs. Queen, I'd like to remind you that I mopped the floors yesterday."

"Of course Rita." Chloe smiled as she finally found her feet and grabbed the towel from the woman. "We'll be sure to hose off out here before setting foot in the house."

"I'd also like to remind the both of you that your flight to London is scheduled for quite early tomorrow morning." Rita passed Oliver his towel before going back inside.

"Oh I talked to Audrey and she said she would not take no for an answer this time." Oliver groaned. "We've begged off the past seven times we were in London, so just deal with it." Oliver once again attempted to protest and Chloe cut him short. "Look, I'm sure a nice private dinner with the Prime Minister and his wife is not going to hurt when you're begging Parliament for use of their shipping lanes."

Oliver did the mature thing in retaliation and stuck his tongue out at her. Chloe responded in kind with a very well thrown ball of mud right to Oliver's face, dissolving the both of them once again into uncontrollable laughter as a mud fight broke out.

I connected Audrey to Audrey St. James, the wife of Harold St. James, Britain's Prime Minister. It was then for the first time in a long time I connected Oliver and Chloe Queen, the people I'd just minutes before won the inaugural game of Hocquetball with as the same type of people who had casual dinners with Prime Minister's and thought nothing of it.

That's when I saw it. Camelot. It was standing right in front of me. The last vestiges of the sun was setting behind them, bathing them in a strange pink light. They were covered in mud, brandishing blinding smiles, and promising me something, something that I couldn't quite put my finger on. All I knew is that I wanted whatever is was more than I'd ever wanted anything before.

Two nights ago I was sitting outside of a bar called the Stout Goat. There was a party going on inside, Chloe and Oliver's anniversary party and I found myself having a moment, a moment that I've had with increased regularity ever since I agreed to take this assignment. I found myself wondering how I got here, to this place, to this place where invitations to private parties of the rich and famous were a normal occurrence.

My life today is much different from my life of eight months ago. Eight months ago a normal day for me was getting up, getting dressed, going to work were I had to deal with annoying editors and deadlines and the copy department harassing me and then I would go home, maybe get some Chinese take away, watch a movie and go to bed. If it wasn't about work I rarely went anywhere. And you thought the life of a reporter was exciting.

Then I met Chloe Queen and I knew my life would never be the same. It all started a little over eight months ago. I was sitting at my desk at work, on the phone. I was on hold actually, had been for going on half an hour trying desperately to get a quote for an article I was working on about a waste management company's misappropriation of hazardous material [December 2009]. Someone walked by and slid a folded note on my desk. To this day I don't know who it was, no one at the office remembers the note and I've called around to all the couriers in town with no luck. I opened it only half paying attention to it, assuming it was from my editor asking me to shave a few inches off my column.

All it said was, Starlight Lounge, 6:00 p.m. Someone came back on the line, I tossed the note aside and promptly forgot about it for the rest of the day. I closed up shop around 5:30, grabbed a cab and had every intention of heading home. Halfway there however I realized that we were headed in the wrong direction and was informed by the cab driver that all the lights were out down Grant Avenue so he was taking an alternative route. An attempt to head back uptown on Meyers was thwarted as they were setting up a roadblock because of an erupted gas mane which caused a rather significant sink hole. We were forced to turn down Range instead where we ran into the traffic jam from hell.

I sat in the back of the cab in the same spot for almost ten minutes before I looked out the window and noticed that we were idling two blocks away from The Starlight Lounge. I remembered the note and checked my watch, it was 5:58. Before I realized it I had my wallet out and was tossing a twenty to the cab driver. "I'll just get out here." I told him before getting out of the cab and walking up the street to the upscale glass fronted club.

It wasn't until I was at the very imposing doors that I realized, there was no way they were going to let me in. The Starlight Lounge was the most exclusive Club in the city, invitation only. To my surprise the doors were pulled open for me immediately. "Your party is running slightly late Mr. Macintosh. Please have a seat at the bar." The doorman smiled at me and led me into the building.

I was definitely intrigued now. The doorman knew my name, had been waiting for me and was more than willing to let me in. I walked up to the bar, already self conscious about my wrinkled suit. Everyone around me was smartly dressed, it was likely they'd just stopped in here for a quick drink before whisking away to some fabulous evening.

"What'll you have?" The guy behind the bar asked. I looked around, wondering exactly what one drank in a place like this and saw nothing but a sea of martini and wine glasses. I've never been a fan of vodka and red wine gives me heartburn. It had been a long day and I honestly didn't have the energy to pretend to drink something I hated just to impress someone who couldn't even be bothered to tell me who they were or why they wanted to meet.

"What do you have on tap?" I asked. For one brief horrifying moment when the man said nothing I had to wonder if places like this even served beer. Then he broke out into a grin and passed me a menu. I smiled back at him and ordered a Guinness.

"Excellent choice sir." He assured me, swiftly and professionally retrieving a glass and then affecting the perfect pour. Glass at a forty five degree angle, a slow smooth flow of beer out of the tap, finished off with a thick head of foam, a technique rarely seen outside of a genuine Irish Pub. I wouldn't have expected any less from a place like that though. He nodded at someone over my shoulder as he slid the drink to me and I closed my eyes to take that first rich sip of creamy dark beer and was so lost in the flavor that I missed the person sliding on the stool next to me.

"I'll have what he's having." A soft voice said from my right. I opened my eyes and turned to see, of all people, Chloe Queen perched on a stool next to me. "I wasn't sure you'd come." She leaned against the bar, relaxed and at home in this setting and smiled brightly at me.

"You sent the note?" I asked her and she just nodded and smiled as she sipped her own pint.

"This isn't really my normal scene." She looked around, crinkling her nose. "But it has the advantage of presenting one with a certain amount of privacy." She stood, thanking the bartender and turning toward the back corner. Without having to be told, I got up and followed.

"What can I do for you Mrs. Queen?"

When we settled in the booth she got right down to business. "You're going to write our story. An exclusive." She said it with such nonchalance it could have been mistaken for something as mundane as a comment about the weather to anyone else, but to me, and to any other reporter, it was more along the lines of a career defining moment.

I'm not embarrassed to say that I choked on my drink. She just smiled as I coughed and took another sip of her beer, waiting for me to calm down patiently. She knew what she'd done, knew what she'd just offered me and by the look on her face, I'd shown the proper amount of excitement at the prospect. Her smile widened and I realized my reaction to her offer was like passing a test I hadn't known I'd been taking, like ordering the beer instead of a Martini. ("I had to be sure you were genuine." She shrugged later when I called her on it, not bothering to hide it from me. "If you showed up in a place you were obviously not comfortable in and still had the courage to be yourself, I knew I could trust you to do the same with the article.")

For almost a year now every reporter from the online blog writers to New York Times headliners had been after this story. It was our holy grail, our lost city of gold, our Atlantis. Chloe and Oliver Queen had always been rather private people, rarely sitting for interviews or commenting for stories unless it was for a sanctioned event.

Chloe never turned down an opportunity to plug what she believed was her greatest accomplishment; Star City's annual hospital fundraiser. Oliver was more than happy to sit in a room filled with reporters and delight and amaze them with the latest breakthrough to come out of Star Labs or the news of a new merger with another company. But when it came to their personal life, they just never talked about it.

Strangely enough, as if through some unspoken agreement, the press respected this. They didn't bother them for stories about their relationship, they weren't hounded by paparazzi when they went out for the evening. Every now and then a photograph would pop up of the two of them strolling through the streets or heading into a restaurant for diner but it was never invasive, never assaulting.

Until last year that is. Everyone knows what happened, most people, myself included were glued to the television set, watching the events unfold from the moment the story was leaked until it ended with one dead body, the biggest organized crime boss on the west coast lead away in handcuffs, and a shaky video of Chloe holding Oliver's hand as he was wheeled into the emergency room. Time magazine would later call it one of the most significant five hours in America's pop culture history.

That was when the bubble burst. The world was hungry for their story, hungry for more than the official press release issued two days later by a man in a smart black suit. He thanked everyone on behalf of the Queens for their prayers in such a difficult time and asked the people to please respect their privacy as they tried to put their life back together.

Where before the press had been content with whatever scraps were thrown to them where Chloe and Oliver where involved, they weren't any longer. We needed to know more, we demanded to know more and instead we were cut off entirely. There were no public appearances, no press conferences or even official statements released. The couple stopped going out, set up permanent residence at the Queen Mansion on the outskirts of town and effectively cut off the outside world. They refused to tell their story, declining invites from everyone from Larry King to Oprah and no one refused Oprah. For all intents and purposes they went radio silent for a year and now she wanted me to tell their story.

When I managed to roll my tongue back in my mouth and resume the ability to speak again, she went into more detail. No holds barred, I could ask her anything about anything, even Clearwater Ridge, especially Clearwater Ridge. I would have complete and total access to every aspect of her life, nothing was off limits. Then she asked me, in all seriousness, if that was something I was interested in. She was basically handing me a Pulitzer on a silver platter and she knew it. All I could do was smile.

What followed still, as I look back on it, seemed like a dream. I spent my days researching the story, interviewing family and friends, co-workers and ex-school mates. I spent my evenings sitting quietly in a chair at the Queen Mansion, watching and taking furious notes as Chloe and Oliver went about their everyday lives, not bothered in the least that there was an interloper among them. I spent my nights pouring over ever single detail contained in the official police file of the incident at Clearwater Ridge. (The question of how a federally sealed file just appeared on my desk one morning is still the only one I believe I didn't get an honest answer about. "Try the lasagna." Chloe said instead, deftly maneuvering away from the subject. "Oliver makes the sauce from scratch.")

These days, I still get up, get dressed, and go to work. I still have to deal with annoying editors and deadlines and the copy department trying to get me to cut five inches off my column for ad space. Only now, at least five times during the day I'll get a phone call or a text message from Chloe. My closet which had once been home to one semi nice pair of slacks and a suit that was over ten years old now housed not one but two tuxedoes that I owned, not rented, and few custom tailored Gucci suits interspersed with my vintage t-shirts and ratty jeans. I could be more often than not found attending some high society charity function, generally dragged there against my will, instead of vegging out in front of the television. Saturdays, even now that the article's basically in the can, you can still find me at the Queen Mansion helping Oliver remodel an upstairs bathroom or just hanging out watching the game with Chloe. So yes my life has changed in ways that even I couldn't imagine when I decided to take this job and I wouldn't have it any other way.

I was brought back to reality with a text to my phone. Chloe was wondering where I was. It was immediately followed by a text from Oliver telling me that Chloe had someone she wanted me to meet and I should run far, far, away. I considered Oliver's advice for a while, Chloe'd been trying to set me up with someone for a while now and her matchmaking abilities leave a lot to be desired. In the end I closed the phone and walked into the bar.

The Stout Goat, for those of you who have never been, is not impressive in the least. If you can manage to find the place, you'll see that it's just a bar like any other. Its sign hangs precariously above an ordinary wooden door in downtown Star City. The spotlight positioned over it burnt out long ago probably never to be replaced. When you walk in you'll feel like an outsider, an intruder in some private club that you didn't know you had to join.

It was never intended to be the place where everyone knows your name. In fact, no one knew anyone's name until three years ago, on a seemingly ordinary Friday night, when Chloe Sullivan proposed to Oliver Queen bringing together a ragtag group of people who otherwise would have happily continued on nursing their beers and ignoring the other bar patrons.

In my first visit to the Goat, I felt the whole time that I was being weighed and measured and somehow was found wanting. It was strange and uncomfortable and I was contemplating finishing my beer and leaving until a few stern looks from Chloe and suddenly I was brought into the fold, completely and utterly brought into the fold, as if I'd always been there. At the time it amazed me how easy it was for the people to accept me, simply because I'd gotten Chloe's nod of approval, until I experienced it firsthand.

It was just a random Friday night. I'd somehow gotten roped into a dart's tournament with Lois, Jake and Victor when the doors opened and the whole bar went deadly quiet. A young couple was standing in the doorway. They'd just wandered in off the street, likely looking for a quick drink before getting on with the rest of their evening. I was instantly annoyed, the Goat was our place and it felt as if some stranger had just wondered in off the street into my living room. From the looks of everyone around me, they seemed to feel the same way.

Just as the couple started to sense that they were in fact unwanted, Chloe emerged from the crowd, two beers in her hand and a smile on her face as she steered them away from the door and toward the bar. Oliver joined her and they talked to the couple for a good hour, pulling from them their life stories with an ease, that as a reporter, I envied.

The woman's name was Emma, the man's David. They'd just moved to Star City the month before so Emma, a third year medical student, could start her first year of residency at Star City General. David transferred to Star City University where he was working toward his PhD in Ancient European History. After more conversation, it was discovered that David and Emma were currently occupying the very apartment that Chloe and Oliver lived in during The Lost Year. Chloe traded Emma the secret of to getting the most out of the hot water (only do dishes after eleven p.m.) as Oliver picked David's brain on the idea that Robin Hood had actually been a real person.

Eventually someone else came up and pulled the two away into a game of pool. Chloe and Oliver had basically said they were ok and we trusted Chloe and Oliver. Even me, who had a few hours earlier looked upon them as intruders found myself laughing and joking with them as the night wore on and more drinks were consumed, their earlier plans forgotten as they somehow found themselves becoming a part of our family.

"It's what they [Chloe and Oliver] do." Lois Lane-Kent, explained the phenomenon to me. "It happens all

the time when you're around them. They could ride on a city bus full of strangers for three blocks and two years later those people would still be sending each other Christmas cards."

"They like family." Clark shrugged. "Neither of them grew up with much of one. It's almost like they've been going through life collecting their own, the bigger the better."

I understood what he meant. When I started this project I didn't know any of these people, but last month I spent a very entertaining evening at Jake's daughter's dance recital and on Wednesday I am expected at David and Emma's for a dinner party where, Chloe has warned me, they are going to attempt to set me up with a friend of David's from the History Department.

The night of the party the usual crowd is there. Jake and his wife, Emma and David, Mary's behind the bar, a smile on her face as she passes out the drinks and all the others that have somehow inexplicably become a part of our strange little family. As has become the tradition with Chloe and Oliver, this is party number two. Earlier in the evening was the big extravagant party with all their high society friends on the roof top of the Hudson Building. That was the public party, the one with the reporters and the photographers, the one with the artisan crafted dinner plates and $400 dollar a once Scotch, the one they say they only have because frankly everyone expects them to have it.

The real party comes after, always at the Stout Goat, the menu generally nothing more extravagant except for hot dogs courtesy of Milo the Hot Dog Guy and whatever Mary happens to have on tap. Sometimes Chloe and Oliver go home and change but more often than not you can find them still in their high class finery, thousand dollar gowns and handmade tuxes which inexplicably don't seem out of place in the dingy bar surrounding. Chloe says it's a tradition and I don't press the matter.

Tonight is no exception. Chloe's dressed to the nines, her hair a makeup immaculate while a lone photographer, my photographer, the only photographer ever allowed in the Stout Goat trails after her taking shot after shot. It's making a few of the others slightly uncomfortable but Chloe has got ignoring the camera flashes down to an art. All week long the photographer has been following Chloe and Oliver around, getting shots to go with the article. After being teased about it for a few minutes, Chloe admits it's a little weird.

"There are pictures somewhere in that camera of me knitting, she insisted on taking them." Chloe wrinkled her nose and everyone laughed. "It's just strange because that is so not who I am."

"So very not who she is." Someone else said and anyone who knew anything about Chloe agreed whole

heartedly. That was definitely not who she was. Out of the two of them, it took less than a week to realize that surprisingly Oliver was the more domestic one, constantly cooking, everything from scratch, obsessing over the garden, the remodels.

"You won't use them will you?" Chloe turned to give me a hug, welcoming me to the party.

"I don't know, maybe." I shrugged, just to tease her and she flushed red before turning away to enjoy the party.

People might come into this article thinking that it's going to be about Clearwater Ridge, about mobsters and kidnappings, about ransoms and police raids. I went into this article thinking that's what it was going to be about and I was wrong. It occurred to me that while the incident was a part of their story, in all honestly it was a small part of their story. Their story, like many other great stories in history is at its heart a love story, a fairytale. That's the story I'm here to tell you.

You see, the fairytales got it wrong. The thing about most epic love stories is that they don't start out very epic. Most of them don't start with, "Once upon a time, in a land far far away". Most of them don't have evil witches and singing birds, most don't start out with a powerful spell or horrible tragedy. Most of them are extraordinarily ordinary in conception, starting the way that any other story would start.

Of course they all start out with a boy and a girl, or a boy and a boy, or a girl and a girl, or really any variation thereof…so let's just say they start out with two people. Two ordinary people, going about their ordinary lives, doing ordinary things with no understanding that one day their story will be the stuff of legends. Sure along the way battles will be fought, evil vanquished, and there might even be a talking animal or two, but that's perfectly normal.

I've interviewed over a hundred people in the course of writing this article and all have different ideas on where this story began. Some say it started on blanket in the park, watching Carey Grant and Katherine Hepburn fall in love on the big screen. Some say it started with an argument, one of many to come but like all the others would end with a kiss. Her cousin and best friend Lois says their story started at a Karaoke bar, somewhere between 'California Dreaming' and 'California Love'. Lois' husband, Clark, insists it started with a game of pool. Not even a proper game, just one shot, winner takes all. The couple themselves can't even settle on a specific time and place.

I've known about Chloe and Oliver Queen for a while now. Quite a lot of people have been following this story since the beginning. Back when Chloe was still Chloe Sullivan. Back when Oliver Queen, playboy extraordinaire, suddenly stopped showing up in the daily tabloids with a different nameless woman on his arms, stumbling out of clubs at one in the morning. Back when those nameless women were replace by one, just one feisty little blonde, when the clubs were replaced with Opera houses and street fairs.

We were riveted as we followed this story, bad boy turns good, womanizer turns boyfriend. They wanted to know how she did it, how this little slip of a blonde with a no nonsense attitude and warm smile managed to wrangle the most philandering bachelor on the planet. "I have no idea," She said with a laugh, leaning in conspiratorially, "I didn't even know we were actually dating until it had been going on for a few months."

It's true. It's a story that's told frequently, "Ad-nausea," if you ask Chloe. It's mostly seen as cute among their friends and only rarely used as a tool to mock. There are two sides to the story they insist. Oliver's version paints him as sweet and endearing, the whole thing reminiscent of a romantic comedy that Hollywood wasn't creative enough to come up with on its own. Chloe's version paints him as egotistical and manipulative, but in a good way obviously since he still got the girl in the end.

When asked why he didn't just ask her out he shrugged. "I didn't want her to say no," he blushed, "So I didn't give her the chance. I was hoping by the time she realized what was going on, she'd be to hopelessly in love with me to care." That innocent self deprecating blush, the slight tilt to his head and the way he told the whole thing looking up through his eyelashes like he was slightly embarrassed, and the fact that Oliver Queen of all people, a man voted sexiest man alive by People magazine three times, beating out George Clooney and Brad Pitt, was scared of rejection, put me firmly on the side of sweet and endearing.

Chloe was not swayed however, "That's not fair." She practically pouted. "Everyone picks his side. He practices that face you know. He can blush on command." She raised her eyebrows at him and he simply continued to smile before pressing a kiss to her forehead, not denying the claim.

"But you love me anyway," he insisted flashing that brilliant smile of his. A half hearted "jerk" was muttered under her breath before she smiled back.

Where do I think the whole thing started? I think it started long before the tabloids got in on the story, long before Chloe or even Oliver realized it was happening. I think it started in a Barn in Smallville Kansas, five years before the first pictures surfaced of the two of them together.

It was a chance meeting that lasted all of a minute and a half, unknowingly putting into motion one of the greatest love stories of our time. He was on his way out, she was on her way in, they probably didn't exchange more than five words to each other. Funnily enough both Chloe and Oliver are fuzzy on the details of that first meeting. "He was still dating Lois at the time," Chloe squinted, trying to pull something, anything about that day from her memory.

Clark, the one who's Barn this auspicious meeting took place in smirked at her. "I believe her exact words were 'wow'." He teased her good naturedly, causing a very un-practiced heat to rise to Chloe's cheeks.

"You thought I was 'wow'?" Oliver smirked.

"You can't tell him stuff like that," Chloe nudged Clark's shoulders. "It just inflates his already too large ego."

However it started, the most important thing was that it started. Their relationship followed the normal course, they dated, they moved in together which for Chloe meant a move across the country. She had a hard time settling in at first. The Isis Foundation, a not for profit organization which offers things like counseling and job and housing placement for troubled young adults, set up by Chloe and a friend back in Metropolis was having trouble getting off the ground in Star City, (a lot of red tape with the city council was holding up her permit).

Oliver ended up suggesting what would turn out to be probably the best thing that ever happened to Star City. He suggested she join the Junior League. They are a philanthropic community organization that is responsible for all of the city's charity fundraisers and deal very closely with the City Council on community issues.

So she did. A notoriously tight knit group they were all unsure of Chloe at first. As an initiation of sorts they gave her what was then considered the worst assignment you could get, the city wide hospital fundraiser. "It used to be an embarrassment on our books." Jenna Lawson, President of the League explained. "It was a stale diner with rubbery chicken and absolutely no redeeming value. The last few years before Chloe took over, we spent more money than we raised, we just couldn't get people interested." It was a running joke that if you got assigned to the hospital you'd done something to piss someone off.

"I still don't know if they were trying to test me or run me off." Chloe joked about it a few years later. Never one to shy away from a challenge, she threw herself head first into the mix and with great results. She saw one problem right off the bat. "Fundraising is tricky. First you have to find a cause that people are passionate about. Then you have to get them invested enough to write you checks that contain a large amount of zero's." She explained. "You'd think hospitals would be easy. Everyone needs them at some point and doctors heal people."

The problem was it wasn't that easy. "Hospital is a broad term." Chloe said. "The money could be going anywhere from medical research to providing care for the elderly but you don't know that. Surprisingly people like to know where the money's going." So she made her first change, she narrowed the scope. She visited with all the hospitals in the city and made a list of things they needed the most.

"The first year was cancer." Jenna remembered. When Chloe did her research she realized that between the six hospitals in Star City not one of them had dedicated Cancer facility. She latched onto that and ran with it. It was no longer just a hospital fundraiser; it was the Cancer Fundraiser. It stirred up a renewed interest but it wasn't until her second change that people started to fall over themselves for tickets and the way that fundraising was conducted would forever change in Star City.

Chloe remembered thinking that knowing where their money was going was all good and proper but when shelling out big bucks, people liked to get something in return, something a little better than a meal consisting of boiled chicken and lame elevator music. "As altruistic as people are, no one likes giving money away, they need to feel like they bought something." She complained to Oliver one night after looking at the dismally low number of tickets sales.

"So sell them something." He shrugged.

"I wish I could sell them you." She glared tossing a pillow at his head.

"Do it." He smirked back. "I dare you." And the auction was born. It still wasn't perfect. Sure she had no reservations that Oliver and all the other rich and deliciously handsome men she got on board would fetch a pretty penny, it seemed tawdry to the Junior League.

"It got their panties all in a twist." Lois smirked. "They said it sounded like prostitution."

"If I could promise something like that, the prices would double." Chloe joked. So it was back to the drawing board. "I stole the idea from Oklahoma, you know the musical." Chloe admitted of her award winning idea. "The scene where the girls are auctioning off baskets. The guy buys the basket and gets to eat the contents with the girl who made it."

The Junior League loved it. At first the plan had been to create the basket's themselves and just assign one to each guy but Oliver put a stop to that. "I'm not selling a basket I didn't make." He bristled so Chloe let him make his own. Soon the other guys wanted to create their own baskets and that was that.

A basket could contain anything from a romantic dinner for two, to an evening at the Star City Arena to watch a Hawks game, to one very lucky girl who once got a flight to Paris to have a picnic on the Seine. Over the years the guys realized the more outrages the basket's contents the more money they raised.

Between the bachelor's and the basket's Chloe's hospital fundraisers have raised enough money to build a state of the art Cancer research and treatment facility at St. Luke's hospital which has become one of the top Cancer centers in the nation, two free clinics and the number one burn treatment center in America.

"This year is all about the kids, we need a dedicated Pediatric Hospital." Chloe said brainstorming ideas for her basket. Another new thing this year, the woman are the ones on the auction block.

"We got tired of doing all the work." Oliver huffed in between telling Chloe that her basket better be awesome or he was bidding on someone else's. Chloe reminded him that he wasn't going to know which one hers was and if he didn't get it right there was going to be hell to pay.

"The baskets are anonymous." Chloe explained. "You pay for the night, not the guy and hopefully you get lucky." Chloe's streak-in five years she'd chosen Oliver's basket four times.

"She picked the wrong basket the third year." Oliver said thoughtfully. "A trip up to Napa, dinner at the French Laundry, then a hot air balloon ride. It was a great basket and a great trip." He reminisced about taking Eleanor Rothschild, a 76 year old pillar of Star City's High Society. The Rothschild family once owned every acre from the harbor to the hot springs.

"I didn't pick wrong." Chloe insisted claiming that she gave the basket away. "Eleanor had always wanted to eat at the French Laundry but her husband wasn't that much of a foodie, a meat and Potatoes kind of guy. I let Eleanor have it."

"Don't listen to them, they're lying liars." Lois calls the both of them out. "She'd been trying to get Bruce [Wayne] to participate for years. He said he'd only do it if Chloe swore that she would bid on his basket. She conned Eleanor Rothschild into buying Oliver's."

Bruce's basket that year? "It was just a black card that said 'Adventure' on it." Oliver scoffed. "She won't even tell me what they did."

Chloe shrugged. "We spent an eye opening evening at the National Archives." She said innocently, with a tone that suggested there was definitely more to the story but she wasn't talking.

When asked to comment on that particular evening Bruce Wayne got a thoughtful, fond smile on his face then quickly schooled his features to show no more emotion and gave a very succinct "No comment."

Things went pretty well for a while until Chloe and Oliver disappeared into what the rest of the media has dubbed the Lost Year. His company, his money, his home was all taken from him by Carmine Luciano, a man who two years ago no one outside of a small select group had even heard of, was just last month Googled more times than Britney Spears (Britney came in at 37,200,00 and Luciano clocked a total of 43,240,00 searches). They dropped completely off the radar, lived a normal quiet life, alone and practically dirt poor for a little under an actual year but they were happy.

One night over Oliver's ridiculously delicious homemade tamales, strangely authentic for a rich white guy from Northern California, Chloe confided in me the plan that Oliver had come up with for that other life.

She'd spent the entire day watching Oliver attempt to repair a leaky faucet and after ten hours when he finally got the drip to stop they'd celebrated with the most disgustingly cheep bottle of wine from the corner store and Oliver laid it all out for her. They'd live in the apartment above the Stout Goat for a few more years while they saved up for a down payment on a small cottage out in the county. That's where they'd start a family, rebuild their lives and live out their twilight years possibly raising a few sheep or even pigs. All in all it sounded peaceful and nice and completely unlike the Chloe and Oliver I'd grown to know.

Chloe's made a few offhanded comments to me about how things seemed easier and simpler when there wasn't money or fame or notoriety in the way to screw things up, how every now and then she missed that life, that future but then she'd break ground on a new Cardiac Ward and know that she wouldn't change anything about her life now. "Except maybe the press."

That peaceful future out in the country would never come to be though. Because Oliver decided one day that he wasn't going to be a victim of Carmine Luciano and if he wasn't going to be a victim then he wasn't going to let anyone else become a victim either. So he did what most of us would never even imagine ourselves able to do, he did was most of us would never have the courage to do. He offered himself up, made the choice to allow the FBI to use him to get to Luciano. He spent every waking moment of the next year and half gathering as much evidence as he could. Evidence that eventually resulted in Luciano being charged with 17 counts of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, racketeering, loan sharking, illegal gambling, tax evasion, obstruction of justice and the big one, 184 counts of human trafficking.

That was the one that was splashed all over Time Magazine, pictures of FBI agents opening up shipping containers and welcoming half starved, barely alive, men woman and children into the safety of the United States of America. It was undoubtedly the best press that the FBI had gotten since 9/11. That was what eventually led to 79 consecutive life sentences being handed down just last month.

I've been dancing around this issue for a few pages now, the story that you all bought this magazine to read, the incident at Clearwater Ridge. From the beginning, ever since I was offered this assignment it's the thing I most wanted to ask about, the story I most wanted to hear. Surprisingly however I wasn't the first one to broach the subject. I knew I couldn't just jump right in feet first, sit down with them on day one and ask about it. The subject was so personal, the questions would be so intrusive. I thought I would wait, allow us to get to know one another better, become more comfortable with each other first.

Time wore on and we got to know each other better, became increasingly more comfortable with each other and still I didn't ask. Chloe and Oliver had told me many stories that could be seen as even more personal, more intrusive. Chloe had told me stories about her mother, one of the only times I'd seen her cry. Oliver had spoken freely and openly about his own parents, what it was like to lose them so young, how he still missed them today, how much he'd wished his mother had lived to meet his wife and still I didn't ask.

We'd covered how they met, how they got together, all of the other milestones in their life, even that day, even the wedding it- self. But I never ventured past the reception, never pushed for anything that occurred after 10:00 that night. I just couldn't figure out where to start, what to ask first, should I hear the stories separately, get both of their versions to form one complete story or let them tell it together? I walked into their anniversary party, days before this article had to be turned in and still had yet to broach the subject with them. In the end I didn't have to ask anything.

The cake had been served, the presents handed out and many many drinks had been consumed. Chloe was telling me a particularly amusing story about her and Lois when they were still teenagers sneaking off to a frat party only to have it raided by none other than General Sam Lane, Lois' father, and the 2nd Battalion of the 1st Special Forces Group of the United States Army then dragged back home, kicking and screaming in the back of a Blackhawk. As she described in excruciating detail the expression on the General's face along with the looks of pity they were receiving from the other soldiers, I realized I hadn't laughed that hard in years.

"You'll run the pictures won't you?" She asks me out of nowhere, suddenly sobering the moment up.

I don't ask what pictures she's talking about, I don't have to. If you walked up to a random person on the street and asked them, "Have you seen the pictures," they know exactly what you are referring to.

"Do you not want me to?" I ask knowing just because I'm asking her now doesn't make me any better than all the others who plastered the pictures all over the place the first few hours after they were leaked.

She stared at me for a while and smiled, "How can you not print them?" She sipped her drink and swallowed hard. "I promised you could tell our story. That's part of our story."

She's right of course, even though it's not the only part of their story, in some ways it defines their story and I know, my editors know, I can't tell the story properly without the pictures. "Still." I pressed on, not sure why. Maybe I wanted her to forbid me, to give me some excuse not to print them. I must have looked at them a dozen times since I started researching this article.

You've probably all seen them. Even through the grainy quality of the security camera you can feel the pain in her eyes, the deeply soul aching sorrow, and every time I look at them, I feel like I'm intruding on something personal. I tell Chloe this.

"You're in the wrong business then." She laughed good naturedly. "They were personal, and then they weren't," Chloe shrugged. "Print them. Anyone can see them if they want to anyway. You just have to Google me." She hesitated and still I pushed.

"You don't seem so sure." I offer with a smile.

"No, I'm sure, it's fine. It's just…that's who I am now, who I'll be from now on. The girl in the bloody wedding dress." I don't have to say anything, agree or disagree. We both know the truth. That's who she became the minute they were leaked to the press. Leaked by a still as of yet unknown source inside the police department, which believe me is a sore subject you don't want to bring up with them. As if sensing what Chloe was telling me, Oliver broke off from the conversation he'd been having and walked over to join his wife, offer his help and support.

Then without further provocation on my side the whole story seemed to tumble out of her, as if it had been building up and building up and she wanted nothing more, needed nothing more than to just spit the whole thing out and have it done with. I gladly allowed her that luxury and simply listened. I didn't even take notes, I didn't have to, it's a story I'll likely never forget as long as I live. Oliver was quick to jump in and fill in the blanks, the parts of the story that Chloe didn't know, the parts of the story that Chloe couldn't tell.

A lot of the charges leveled against Carmine Luciano haven't yet made it to trial and being that most of them are part of an ongoing investigation, there is only so much that I can reveal at this time. Most of the particulars you already know. Around 4:00 in the morning, after leaving their second reception, Chloe and Oliver were headed home for a quick shower, a change of clothes and then back out to the airport for two weeks of relaxation on a beach in Morocco. They never made it home, at 4:28 a.m. they were driven off the road by a few of Luciano's henchmen. Chloe was left for dead while Oliver was dragged from the car, shot in the knee, and given a broken arm before he was taken away.

Chloe somehow managed to extricate herself from the rubble, walk a little over ten miles back until she made it to the Star City Police Station at 8:00 a.m. Around 3:00 that afternoon the police logged a call to Chloe's cell phone from the man simply called 'Jack the Ripper', he was offering to exchange Oliver to Chloe for the tidy sum of one hundred million dollars. The offer was ruse, something to throw the police off the scent and it didn't take long to figure that out. Jack was simply trying to buy some time so that he could kill Oliver and get away. He never had the chance though as he would later be taken out of the cabin at Clearwater Ridge in a body bag, dead at the hands of Carmine Luciano himself for what Carmine saw as an attempt to betray him.

They knew the ransom demand was a farce, it wasn't about the money, it was about information. They needed to know what Oliver knew, more importantly, the needed to know what Oliver knew and what, if anything he'd told the FBI. In a risky move, Special Agent Conner Mason signed off on a dangerous and completely unconventional plan thought up by Chloe Queen herself. She offered to go in, see Luciano face to face, pretend to bargain with him long enough for the FBI to get into position and take him down. The operation went off without a hitch. The day ended with Oliver recovering in a nearby hospital, Chloe at his bedside, Carmine and 27 of his associates in jail awaiting trial and the FBI in possession of three container numbers, numbers that would eventually help save many lives and put away the most notorious gangster to come along since Al Capone.

Just because it all seemed to turn out alright in the end, didn't mean that everything was rainbows and unicorns, clear skies and sweet dreams. There are obviously outward, visible scars from that day; a thin white line on the left side of Oliver's temple, Chloe sometimes sports slight, almost imperceptible limp, in her right leg when she's really tired. These are the physical scars.

"Wanna see something cool?" Oliver's face lit up when I pointed that out. He pushed up his sleeves and then extended his elbow as far as it could go. His arm curves to the right at a strange and somewhat disgusting angle. "Awesome huh?" Oliver bent and straightened his arm a few more times until Chloe slapped him. "It didn't heal right." He pulled his sleeve down.

"And whose fault is that?" Chloe glared at him, but it looked almost perfunctory as if she'd done it so many times she didn't really mean it, it was simply expected. "He decided three weeks before he was due to get the cast off to take it off himself, at the kitchen sink with my bread knife."

"It was itching like crazy." Oliver defended himself.

There are also other scars, not so visible to the naked eye. The way at times Chloe's knuckles would turn white as she gripped Oliver's hand in hers, like if she didn't hold on tight, he might slip away. The way neither of them seemed to be able to go five minutes without seeking the other out in the crowd, just to reassure themselves that the other person was there, was safe.

"Trust was a big thing for a while there." Chloe admitted. "You have to understand, I knew nothing about this until after he'd been gone for five hours. He'd been lying to me for a year and as glad as I was that he was safe, as proud as I was for what he'd done, I was still really hurt that he didn't tell me. I knew he was doing what he thought was best, trying to protect me but we'd never had secrets before." She shrugged. "And now we'll never have secrets again."

It seems cheesy and naïve but they really don't, excepting of course the story of what exactly Chloe and Bruce did on their night of adventure, Chloe and Oliver tell each other everything, and strangely enough that works for them. Perhaps it's because they know what other's don't. They know the most severest of consequence, they know the worse case scenario of what can happen when secrets are kept and things with held and they'll do anything it takes not to have to go through that again.

I was slightly shell shocked when she finished and wondering how on earth the party could still be going on around me after everything I'd just learned. Chloe wore a strange look of relief and surprisingly it took a few years off of her face. I figured now was as good a time as any to breach the next big subject. "What's next?" I asked them both.

"Cake I believe." Chloe answered cheekily.

"I meant for you guys. What's next for Chloe and Oliver. There's been talk of you running for office, Mayor, Governor, maybe even one day President." I pointed out, as if maybe they themselves had not yet heard these rumors. That image of Camelot once again popped in my head and I waited with bated breath as they seemed to really consider the question.

"I know people are throwing around a lot of things." Chloe wrinkled her nose. "They're already calling us the "First Couple", saying we could be the new Camelot."

"What do you think about that?" I wanted to know, I needed to know.

"I think…" Chloe paused for a minute, gathering her thoughts. "I think that my dining room table is square and that I look horrible in pearls." She said lightly. "Besides that, it rained nonstop last week and we're in California. If the fog lifts before noon it's a good day." (Unbeknownst to her, and simply further fueling my belief in her Camelot, Chloe refers here to the very same musical Jackie did. The song, aptly named Camelot says; _The rain my never fall till after sundown, by eight, the morning fog must disappear_).

As for Oliver, he's not discounting anything but he's certainly not announcing his candidacy. "I do whatever Chloe wants me to do." He joked and she very lovingly elbowed him in the chest. "I don't know what the future holds. Hopefully someday we'll have kids, maybe I'll run for office, maybe I'll retire next year and open a surf shop on the beach. What I do know is that they're about to be playing my song." Oliver waggled his eyebrows and Chloe looked at him questioningly. "You just sit right there and enjoy."

He spun her bar stool around so that it was facing the middle of the room. He nodded to a man by the jukebox and the music stopped abruptly. "As all of you no doubt know, my long suffering wife has been forced to put up with quite a lot in the past few years." There were murmurs of agreement all around and one very derisive snort from Lois Lane-Kent. "It's a testament to her love and patience that she didn't get rid of me a long time ago, not that she could if she tried. When we got married, I promised her eighty years, I'm not sure she could put up with me for that long, so how about we shoot for thirty and take it from there?" He smirked and nodded at the man standing by the jukebox again.

Music started up and suddenly there was a microphone in Oliver's hands. I recognized the song immediately, the Beatles, "When I'm Sixty-Four". From the expression on her face, so did Chloe. The bar went crazy when Oliver started to sing.

"When I get older losing my hair, many years from now. Will you still be sending me a Valentine? Birthday Greeting? Bottle of wine? If I'd been out till quarter to three, would you lock the door? Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm sixty-four?"

Chloe's face turned an interesting shade of pink as Oliver continued to serenade her, mapping out their future with the help of Sir Paul McCartney. He did it with a soft humor that managed to cut the edge of seriousness behind the songs meaning. A cheeky smile was betrayed by pleading eyes, hints of the insecure bachelor peeking out from under the surface, a remnant of the man too scared of rejection to ask Chloe out. As if sensing this Chloe smiled brightly at him, reassuring, reaffirming. And when he sang the words, "Grandchildren on your knee. Vera, Chuck, and Dave." She laughed fully and openly and winked at him.

"That's so what we're naming our kids." She threatened him, half joking, half serious as he grabbed her from the barstool by the hand and spun her into his chest. "I don't care if we have three girls."

When the song drew to a close the laughter from the other patrons was cut short very quickly by the sincere and passionate kiss that Oliver bestowed upon his wife, dipping her almost to the ground and marking her very publically. "I wasn't kidding about the name thing." She said softly, her eyes slightly out of focus, her breath coming just a hair to fast.

It was Oliver's turn to laugh and shake his head. "I'll play you for it." He offered and suddenly she was alert again, accepting the challenge and the two made their way over to pool table in the corner. Their stick's were handed to them with reverence as the balls were racked up. I watched from my perch at the bar as they smiled and joked, barely paying attention to the table as they sunk ball after ball, the fate of the names of their future children at stake and I thought to myself that they'd make it. They'd make it to sixty-four, they'd probably make it to eighty-four.

When you think of fairytales you think of evil stepmother's and wicked witches, you think of magical curses and fairy godmothers. There's generally a handsome Prince and a damsel in distress. Usually there's a heroic quest and a last minute rescue. Theirs is not that type of fairy tale. No one would deny that Oliver makes a handsome Prince but one minute with Chloe and you'll soon find out, she's no damsel in distress. If you spend an hour or more with her it becomes patently obvious that she's the one who in fact does the bulk of the rescuing in their relationship.

The fairytales did get one thing right. Whether there are evil stepmothers and fire breathing dragons, or fairy godparents and wise old wizards, one thing never fails. Most epic love stories don't start out very epic and that's ok because the beginning isn't what's important. What's important is the ending, what's important is what's after, the Happily Ever After. And if you can make it to there, then, in the words of John Lennon; It's gonna be alright.

"_In short, there's simply not, a more congenial spot, for happily-ever-altering than here in Camelot._"

- Camelot, the Musical

* * *

So that's it. The story is finally done. Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I might possibly do a coda to this for Bruce and Chloe's night at the National Archives if anyone's interested but I promised a Christmas Chlollie story for a challange so it wouldn't be out for a while. Thanks so much for the feedback. You guys rock!!!


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